KISEKI
by 01Trycia-chan01
Summary: In-universe. Post-war. Four years after the war, Naruto and Tsunade come up with a scheme. Needless to say, Sakura and Sasuke have a surprise in store for them. Let the games, comedy and drama begin! Rated M/MA
1. My Neighbor

KISEKI

|1|

Okay. DON'T kill me. This is my first SasuSaku. Okay? I love the pairing. It's dysfunctional, it's great. Also, this is my first time writing from a first-person POV. I feel like there are a lot of pro's and con's to writing in just first person. Soo yeah, I'm giving this a go.

Overall, I'm going to try to make this enjoyable but it's going to take time to build on it. This is post-war. Everything is peachy. Sasuke and Sakura are BOTH seeing other people; don't get frustrated with me! That will change because this story is labeled as a Sasusaku and yeah.

Ugh… I'm so in Shikamaru mode right now… the beginning of all my stories are so troublesome to write…

-X-

It's been six months since I've been back in the village. I had an anbu-level assignment that…wasn't really anbu-level. I was to help all of the badly wounded in Lightning country recover, return to Konoha for as long as I can stand, and then go back to Tsunade-sama to complain about how I can't stand being here, freak out and probably get sent somewhere else... Maybe I should make a trip to Suna… see Gaara, I nervously thought as the gates loomed over and Konohamaru, on guard duty today waved to me.

"OOOOI!" He jumped up excitedly, still hyper even though now he was older. I smiled and waved back. Suddenly the backpack on my back became heavy and I realized just how tired I had become. How many years has it been now? Four? Yeah. It's been four years. I haven't spent longer than maybe six months total in Konoha in the entire four years since the war ended. Why? Very good question… I waved at the passersby, people recognizing me, no doubt by my pink hair. I smiled and stopped to chat as I made my way towards Naruto and Tsunade's conjoined office. Tsunade-sama had still yet to retire from her duties. She wanted to train Naruto in being Rokudaime before she actually gave him the title. Peacetime required a totally different kind of leadership than Naruto was ready for, but we wrote to each other often and he always said that even though "baa-chan" was scary, he was learning a lot from her. I chuckled to myself and hopped up the side of the hokage tower, snuck in through the window aaaaand—

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's sensory skills had improved. He was standing, reading some paper as Tsunade was sitting and watching him. He dropped the parchment and pulled me into a hug that I have to say I missed. I squeezed him back. His hair had gotten just a bit longer and he was looking more and more like the late Yondaime every day. I blushed, because he had grown handsome…definitely. Hinata was a lucky girl…

"Yo, Naruto." I teased with my tongue out. He grinned like a meerkat in front of its prey.

"So… how about you, teme and I—

I held up my hand and he shut his mouth. Not _that_ old question again….

"No. I have a report to give and a long shower to take." I shut him down and he frowned, his unhappiness making me feel guilty. But No. I did not want to see the man that had broken my heart as a boy. Bluntly speaking, _screw that, shannaro_! I wasn't going to just ease back into the "team life" as Naruto liked to call it and pretend to be cheesy, happy, gushy little Sakura again. I was anbu damn it. And I wasn't going back to my old spot; not until I was respected for what I had worked so hard to become. Tsunade cocked a gold brow at my brush-off but held her hand out for my mission report scroll. I handed it to her. Just as she was unfurling the scroll and reading the first few lines and just as Naruto picked up the paper he dropped, a knock sounded at the door.

A familiar chakra pricked my senses and Naruto shouted "Come in!".

Ugh. The bane of my existence. The epitome of my shameful former self. Uchiha Sasuke… in… an abu uniform? When had he risen up the ranks? Had it really been that long? Great, I resisted from rolling my eyes. We now had matching outfits _and _tattoos. How cute. Gut me, please and be done with it. I crossed my arms, and Tsunade's sharp eyes shifted to study me briefly. She knew I was tense and she knew why too. I was still angry and she knew it. She sighed, ignoring my urgency to just go. I didn't want to be here too long.

"What's the news, Uchiha?"

Sasuke was silent and Tsunade sighed again, tired of it all at this point. She reached for a bottle of sake from a secret compartment in her desk and took a swig right out of the bottle. I smirked. I missed my sensei's alcoholic tendencies.

"Sakura's anbu. You can speak confidently." She coaxed. It worked. The man spoke. Praise the Lord, I thought sarcastically.

"All of the borders are experiencing troubles except for ours. It's mostly bandits angry with poverty now that there's peace. There are no rumors yet about any groups of solid organizations." Sasuke briefly commented. "The details are in the scroll." He stepped forward and was now standing next to me. I put on my anbu-face and just stared out the window past Tsunade-sama.

"Mm… good." Tsunade-sama scanned his scroll, as well as looked over mine. I glared holes through the glass of her window. She was _making _us stand next to each other. I could almost _feel _Naruto laughing at me behind my back. What the _hell_ was this sudden change of attitude? They both knew I didn't want to be tied down by memories of _him_.

Nothing changed for several minutes as Tsunade read on, shifting her eyes from scroll to scroll. I was getting more and more pissed as the seconds flew by.

"Request to check up on Suna, Shisho?" I spoke up, professionally, coldly, so she knew how dissatisfied I was with her.

"Denied." She calmly responded and swigged from the while bottle again. "There's a lot of violence on that border, according to Uchiha." She added. "Also, your medical records need to be updated at the hospital and missions longer than three months require at least a month of rest before an operative is allowed to leave on another extensive journey. You have been gone for six. That's twice the amount and I have half a mind to keep you here for the _two_ months you _should _stay…" _If you don't change your heartless attitude_ would have been the rest of her sentence, if Sasuke wasn't in the room.

Fuck you, Uchiha Sasuke. Fuck you.

"Understood." I responded coldly.

"Dismissed until further notice."

I turned to leave.

"Both of us?" Sasuke queried in his stupid, still-sexy, deep baritone. Tsunade-sama paused a moment.

"Yes, both of you." I heard just as I waved to Naruto with a smile plastered to my face and exited the building. Once I was out I flew to my apartment, tired and frustrated. Maybe I could ask Lee for a spar later? Or maybe Kakashi-sensei was around to help me with my ninjutsu? I unlocked my door once I had climbed all three floors and exchanged niceties with my fellow neighbors who had missed having me around. I pulled open my dusty curtains and pushed the window open to let some fresh air breeze through the musty apartment. I had enough money to hire a maid but it's not like keeping the dust off of this place mattered much to me anyway. I was barely ever here. I'd probably be gone in a week or two. Firs thing first, though… food. I needed to buy food to cook myself dinner and some bath items; small ones because I wouldn't be here for long. And then, I needed to call Ino and see what she was up to. I pinched the bridge of my nose… I always had so much shit to do…

-X-

I turned to Naruto, just catching Sakura's long pink hair as she was leaving. I trained my eyes on my blond brother and stuck out my fist. It was good to see him in one piece after three months. Naruto's fist met mine and I smirked at him, crossing my arms. He knew what was on my mind.

"Sure we'll spar later." He spoke in response to the question I never asked. That was how we worked.

"Training ground three. At Seven." I mumbled before I turned around, bowed to both village leaders as my manners taught me, and left at a leisurely pace, hands in my pockets, as usual.

-X-

I grinned evilly at Tsunade-baa-chan once the door was shut and teme was gone.

"When do you think they'll notice?" I asked eagerly, twitching my fingers and keeping my voice low, because I knew teme was only a few feet away from the building. He'd raise the third ring of hell if he realized what we had done.

Baa-chan smirked and shook her head.

"I don't know." She shrugged and drank again. Heh heh, it was fun drinking with Baa-chan. We came up with the best plans when we were drunk. This recent one… probably was the best we had ever come up with. I called it "Operation bring Teme and Sakura-chan together" but baa-chan was better with codenames so she just named the unofficial "mission," "Kiseki" for "miracle", because it'd be a miracle if Sakura-chan was ever nice to teme again and it would be a miracle if teme ever started to care what she thought or didn't think about him.

So we went about our business… I was hoping teme would notice immediately and try to kill me harder during our sparring session later, but that was only if he was tense enough in his own apartment to actively check the chakra of each tenant.

-X-

As I was about to leave my apartment, I heard the apartment door next to mine click shut, and a rustling around through the wall. I was minutely peeved that Tsunade let someone rent this floor out, especially that she let someone rent the room _right next to me_ out but at the same time, what did I expect? People were looking for low-income housing. And this apartment… it was worse than the one Naruto originally owned. That's why I was so happy that Tsunade promised to leave this entire floor empty. I wouldn't have to worry about noisy nights and overcrowding the few times I _was_ home, but she probably ran out of room everywhere else and, honestly, I wasn't going to be around for a while anyway. I could deal with it for a week or two. Sighing, I stretched and grabbed my keys, making sure I still had them. I left, with a quiet click. The tenant next to me must have been told that his neighbor was coming back today and was respectfully quiet. I smiled at the door to the unknown neighbor's apartment. My apartment was 310. Neighbor-person's apartment was 312. 311 was vacant across the dingy hallway. I shrugged. Maybe I'll bring a basket of fruit by after I get shopping over and done-with…

-X-

Not surprisingly, I met Ino at the beauty supply store while looking for shampoo.

"FOREHEAD GIRL!" She squealed and, refreshingly I squealed back, calling her a pig. I had missed her bubbly happiness. The cashier looked at us thoughtfully. It was rare to see shinobi happy after a war.

"You're finally back!" She was in her casual clothes, I noted, definitely off-duty. She wore a simple, but curve-defining, purple, quarter-sleeve tunic that showed her freakin' ginormous tits off, as usual, and form-fitting nin-pants that stopped just at her calf, paired with black sandals. Her hair was up in its every-day sleek, blonde tail but her bangs were shorter and further swept aside. I thought they looked cuter that way and smiled when I noticed them. Sai caught up and smiled at me as well, waving.

"Sakura." He grinned with open arms, expecting the hug.

I wiggled out of Ino's embrace to tackle my former teammate.

"Sai!" I squeezed him till his pale face turned blue.

"Okay, you're killing me." He tapped two fingers onto my shoulder. Heh Heh… he tapped out quick this time…

"How are you guys doing?" I asked them. They stood next to each other… oddly close. I looked from left to right and narrowed my eyes at Ino just slightly, before my blonde friend stuck her tongue out and spoke.

"Well, actually. I moved up in T&amp;I with Sai's help. I learned how to heal minds. It's really cool!" She informed, just to keep me up-to-date.

"How to heal minds?" Now Ino had my attention.

"Well… after the war, Sai mentioned it would be amazing if you and I could combine our efforts into healing the ninja that had psychosis and severe ptsd… I kinda put my iryo-skills and shintenshin-skills together at the suggestion. The technique is still green, but Tsunade approved. I just got promoted to senior psycho-analyst last week! It was an early birthday gift!" Ino grinned, avoiding the fact that she had to do this on her own because I wasn't there. Also…

Shit. Her birthday. I totally forgot about it. I'm an awful friend. Sai seemed to catch on to my look of absolute horror while Ino was busy grinning away. He nodded. I subtly nodded back. It was a silent agreement to go gift shopping for her together.

"Wow, time flies so fast…" I smoothed over, recovering the split second she was at attention again.

"I know. I can't wait till they throw my party! It's going to be so much fun! I'm finally 21!" She jumped in excitement and I had to realize that in a few months' time… it would be my birthday too. Jashin damn it, I'm almost 21 too… I'm still not married… have no hope of having any kids… Ugh… I can't even find a single guy that I can stand.

"Anyway, I'm gonna stop at your apartment later tonight for a sleepover! You can't say no!" Ino threatened cutely.

I thought of my poor, unfortunate, and respectful next door neighbor and shook my head.

"We did that last time I came back. How about I go over to your place tomorrow instead?"

"Oh right, you just got back today, right? You must be exhausted… Oh well, I'll just keep you up tomorrow then!" She grinned. "See ya then, forehead!"

Sai waved as Ino dragged him away. But he shot a few hand signals from behind as they were walking. Tomorrow morning. 6 am. Market.

Gotcha Sai. He looked back. I nodded a confirmation and left.

-X-

I was just done meditating and working on incrementally masking my chakra when I heard the soft click of my new neighbor's door. Whoever they were, they were quiet. I could respect that. They were brave for knowing they were moving in next to me. I had this floor to myself previously, presumably because no one else wanted to share it with me. It's not like I was everyone's favorite person when I came back. But the fifth was probably running out of room and placed someone there anyway. It was probably another anbu like me or just a forgiving villager. Maybe they were quiet out of respect because they knew it was me, or maybe they were quiet out of fear or maybe they didn't even know they were living next to me. Whatever. Either way they were quietly making dinner, not making any more noise than absolutely necessary.

Chop. Chop. Chop. Rustling sounds. This person had a strong hand. Judging by the sound they were cutting a fruit. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. The sounds were smooth, not grating. They were accurate with their hands as well. Definitely, possibly, a ninja. Or maybe a cook.

Chop. Chop. Chop.

Peel. Peel. Peel. Peel.

Cut. Cut.

Chop. Chop. Chop.

More rustling sounds, like cardboard.

I wondered what the hell they were making, when my own stomach grumbled loudly.

Food. Now.

So I left… quietly.

-X-

I knocked another three times and waited. No lights were on inside the apartment. Whoever my mysterious neighbor was, he or she had left while I was cooking. Maybe the smells from my small kitchen made the person hungry. So whatever, I left the disposable, wooden bento box inside the cardboard with the sliced fruit, meat, veggies and rice in front of the apartment door. Hopefully, they'd be back soon. If they live here, then they probably don't have much money to buy food, so maybe it'll make their day when they come home to find a nice dinner box waiting for them. I dropped my thank you note onto the box and went back into my own apartment to eat and read a drama/romance I picked up at the store, just 'cause I was getting tired of the medical texts.

"The Story of Haro and Ashura, the Warrior Princess…" I mumbled to myself. This was supposed to be set in a different world where chakra didn't exist. I started mindlessly digging my chopsticks into my meal as I kept the solid book open with my other hand, sitting at my kitchen table. Eventually, about ten minutes later, my ears picked up the soft sound of footsteps. My neighbor was back. The door opened and closed and I tiptoed as stealthily as possible to see if he or she had picked up the box. I smiled and went back to reading and eating when I realized that they did.

-X-

Hn. What a surprise. The letter isn't threatening and there are no paper bombs inside the box. Just a dinner and "thank you for being quiet" note.

"_Sincerely…your next door neighbor"_ It was a female's handwriting. So my next door neighbor is a woman who can make dinner look way more appetizing than the take-out soup I bought. I looked at my soup, sitting forlornly at my round, clean kitchen table, and at the tempting dinner box filled with balanced nutrition in my hand. I can tell the food was made with care and appreciation. I looked at the wall. It was a stupid thing to do. I was no Hyuuga, so I couldn't see through it but I wanted to at least _see _who was kind enough to make a dinner box for their unkown neighbor. Should I go next door and knock? Personally thank them?

Then, I realized how weird that would be, and how terrified the poor woman would be once she saw me face to face. She was obviously a woman who worked at a restaurant for a living… it would be pointless to cause a scene. I shook my head and grabbed the to-go tomato soup and threw it into the empty mini-fridge. I sat in the warm light of the kitchen and opened the wooden box all the way. Was I paranoid that it was poisoned? At first yes, but then, who cares? It wouldn't work on me anyway. Not some poison made by a cook, at least. Plus, someone who wanted to poison me would probably try harder to make this dinner look way more edible. This was thrown together as she made her own dinner. I could tell. It wasn't _entirely _on purpose. It was an afterthought: "I should thank that guy for not making so much noise". I shrugged, munching away… rather quickly. I was hungry and this was good. It was better than anything I'd had in a while…

-X-

I finished half of the book by the time I realized the rest of my food was cold. Shit. I put the book down and scarfed the rest of the meal like a wild animal, but who cares? No one was around to hear or see me. As long as I didn't eat like this in public it didn't matter. Thoughts of the princess wielding a sword into battle against her lover were swirling around in my head as I automatically did my dishes as quietly as possible, and went to shower.

-X-

I was lying in bed when I heard it, the sounds of water hitting tile. Just how thin were these walls? Had she heard me shower earlier too? My blood heated at the thought of a naked woman just beyond the wall behind my head. Great… and now I'd never sleep. When was the last time I had sex? Ah, that's right. It was with that dark-haired girl from some border town on the way to Iron... was it three weeks ago…? Whatever… She was a goddess. I burnt that condom once it was done, right? I closed my eyes, the memory flashing before my eyes.

"_Why would you do that?" _That's right… she was under the covers, but her breasts were still there… practically begging to be touched again, the tiny nipples hard and still dark pink from when I last sucked on them. I looked away. Temptation was horrendous when you were ready to go again…

"_Trust me you don't want kids with my genes."_ At least that part wasn't a lie… 

She had given me the information I wanted. It was time to go. I left. 'Never saw her again. I couldn't get her long, black, wavy hair out of my mind. Her violet eyes that looked like gemstones…

"Fuck." I cursed quietly and sat up to get rid of the wood just as the water next door squeaked off.

-X-

After dressing into red pajama shorts and a comfortable, old t-shirt of Naruto's I threw myself into bed… I fell asleep and was in a dream before my head hit the pillow…

_Faces and voices… there were so many familiar ones as I passed people by in this town… which town was I in? Which country? Oh that's right… chakra doesn't exist here… oh well… I wonder if I can visit the princess… _

_When I went to the castle… the one on the throne was… it wasn't the princess I thought I knew… It wasn't Ashura-sama it was me… but a much weirder, big-boobed and lighter-pink-haired version of me with prettier, blander green eyes. _

_Um, Hi. I started, strangely smoothing my plain dress in front of this goddess of a woman._

"_Oh you're here. Good. Come look at the attack plans. We have to kill the one with the eyes." She spoke nonchalantly. _

"_Wait, you mean Haro?" I took into detail the beautiful, crimson dress she wore. The Sakura that wasn't me glared at me. _

"_No, not Haro. The one with the eyes." She insisted. _

"_Eyes? What eyes? Whatever, it doesn't matter. Haro loves you." That was all that mattered. Haro loved her. _

"_What?" She gave a startled response. Her beautiful, long hair was pulled half-up-half-down in an intricate design that had silver woven into it. Was I able to look that pretty? _

"_Haro. Remember? The one you're fighting against. Your childhood friend. He's in love with you. You should love him back. It'll end the war." _

"_War? End the war?" Her eyes glittered in malice. Now I was scared, panicked actually as the other me drew a sword, it was curved and different than any sword I'd ever seen. _

_That's not me… that's not me… I repeated to myself. But I was lost without my chakra. _

"_I LOVE WAR!" _

_She swung the sword. _

-X-

I awoke to the sound of a cry. And quick, panicked breaths that sounded almost next to my ear. I rolled over stealthily and pressed my head against the wall. Was her bed, directly next to mine? Opposite of this wall? I listened to see if there were any intruders or anyone at all that would hurt the stranger that showed me kindness. There were just quick breaths, something she mumbled and I heard her get up, clumsily to go use the bathroom. She flushed, ran the sink for a while and returned to her bed. I sighed. So my neighbor was a cook with nightmares… but we all had nightmares after the war. Sometimes I dreamt about Madara, coming after me. I'm always in hell in my nightmares. I'm always watching Naruto. The fire never hurts him. Sometimes he's with Hinata. Sometimes he's with Sakura… Sometimes I'm watching Itachi. And he's happy. Sometimes Itachi is in hell with me. Sometimes Madara is chasing us through hell and we're little and powerless again…

Fucking nightmares...

-X-

What a weird dream… I read way too much of that book at once. I don't love war. I shuddered remembering the recent one, how I couldn't save Neji… how I couldn't save some of those people I tried so hard to. It was the worst when a life died at your hands. A single tear streamed down my cheek as I got emotional again. I didn't want to cry and wake up my neighbor, but I was so, so glad I saved Naruto. Of all the people that died… at least I saved Naruto. He was alive and happy and living the life he deserved. I clasped my hands together and prayed to whoever was listening.

"Please… if any good spirits are there… please just keep Naruto happy… Please.."

I whispered quietly.

Fucking nightmares…

-X-

The next morning, I rose right before dawn. I dressed quickly in a pair of long, form-fitting black pants tucked into nin boots and my signature, red and white Haruno v-neck, then brushed my teeth and stealthily made my way out of my apartment. There was a note tacked onto my door. It read "Thank you". I stuffed it into my pocket and made my way through the streets of Konoha to meet Sai in the market. I was re-tying my red headband on top of my head when I met my best friend's boyfriend in the street, standing next to a half-asleep, zombified Naruto. Who was drooling on his shoulder unattractively. I approached the two and shook Naruto awake.

"Naruto… Oi! Naruto!" I tried not to laugh at how comical the blonde looked.

He snorted twice before he raised a fist and then blinked away the sleep.

"Ugh, auh.. whaa? Oh… Yo… Sakura-chan…" His voice was raspy and still tinged with sleep.

I smirked at Naruto. He was _not_ a morning person. I giggled. This was just like old times, when me, Naruto and Sai would hang out before the war.

"Come on, we have to get Ino gifts." I dragged Naruto along, thinking it was a miracle that he wasn't falling asleep while walking.

"I was thinking about hiding the gifts at your apartment." Sai mentioned as he caught up and walked on my other side. I smiled at him and nodded. That was a great idea. Ino's birthday was only a couple days away. I was sleeping at her house tonight and I'd just have to keep her away from my place for two days after that. I walked past a couple of clothing stores and realized I'd have to get myself a outfit…so I could dump all the guys she'd try to send me home with. I thought about my quiet neighbor and smiled. That person was very respectful. I could never disturb him or her by bring someone home late. That was just rude.

-X-

I was bored by lunchtime. What the hell was taking Naruto so long? We were supposed to spar today. A toad suddenly appeared on the summoning table at my night-stand. It dropped a slimy scroll out of its mouth and I smirked. It was about time… The orange frog disappeared with a poof and I unrolled the scroll still dripping with juice all of the wood of my table.

"Sorry I canceled on you yesterday. Hinata needed help, you know how it is. Leave as soon as you get this. Training ground 3. Baa-chan gave me the day off. – Naruto" I mumbled the words aloud and rolled up the scroll, tossing it onto my bed. I double-checked my weapons pouches and made sure I had kusanagi on my back. Somehow, I missed wearing the thick black Uchiha shirts I used to wear all the time. This one was old, but simple. Perfect for training because I knew it was going to get ruined. I hadn't had a decent fight since the war. I tucked my dark grey pants into my nin boots at the door and headed out… but what I saw… surprised me…

-X-

Sai had bought Ino a beautiful pair of blue pearl earrings on my suggestion. Naruto ignored my suggestion and bought her a joke-gift that was sure to offend her. It was a book. "How to be a better girlfriend" was the title and I promised she would throw it at him at some point and that same title would be imprinted on his face. Naruto didn't care. He thought it would be funny to get back at her for "abusing" Sai by making him go shopping with her. Poor Ino… she must have been lonely to take a _guy_ shopping. I felt guilty then and decided to make up for my poor qualities as a best friend by buying her a diamond necklace in the shape of a lotus.

Once we had all the gifts wrapped, I made my way to my parent's house and checked up on how they were doing with their new hotel business. Their inns around the fire country were doing marvelously well and they conveniently managed to bug me about finding a boyfriend "like Ino-chan did". After the annoying conversation about how "busy" I was (too busy to have a boyfriend) and after eating down a whole bucket of ice strawberry ice cream with them, I hugged them and left. Now, all I had to do was stow away the gifts somewhere in my apartment (which I had a plan for that, of course) and then go train to burn off the fat of the ice cream I just ate, and afterwards, check out if the hospital is still running like a well-oiled machine.

Now, I was extremely content to do all these things, wondering if my neighbor was home as I fiddled with the key and the lock… until my neighbor walked out of his apartment… It was then that I realized as we stood there, staring dumbly at each other that the years must have relaxed Uchiha Sasuke (Yes, _Uchiha Sasuke_) because he had somehow _allowed _himself to stare dumbly back at me… for a few precious seconds of course…

"Yo, Sakura." He greeted coolly, back to his _stupid, insanely beautiful_ neutral face. I turned away. Play it cool Sakura, I told myself. Play it cool. Forget you made him dinner. Just forget that.

"Hi." I answered dryly. He didn't deserve that dinner… not after he left me on a bench and didn't apologize for an entire eight years afterwards… He had aided the bad people… even if for a short time. Madara… he had killed so many… My own shisho had almost died at his hand… Finally I got the dumb key into the lock, jiggled the handle the way it needed to be jiggled and moved inside, gifts in hand.

"The dinner box was good. More protein would have been better." He mentioned slyly as he walked past. The bastard… I almost spun around to curse at him. He could go suck on someone's penis if he wanted more protein! The nerve of that jerk!

"Right. Thanks for being quiet." Whatever. Better to be civil. I shut the door.

Fuck. WHY on _earth_ was Uchiha Sasuke my next door neighbor… _conveniently _right next door… When there's a whole floor that I used to have to _myself!? _A sunny blonde who liked to play stupid so he could manipulate things from the hokage's office flashed across my mind. Naruto… Of course… After denying him ramen with his old team these last four years… he had gotten back at me… in the _worst _way.

Naruto… you're going to fucking die…

-X-

Naruto is going to fucking die today. I didn't realize how quickly I was moving through the street. I must have looked murderous to some people because a few civilians whispered quietly to each other as I walked past and many just moved the hell out of my way.

I was worried about _Sakura_ waking up from a nightmare. I had eaten _Sakura's _fucking _annoyingly good_ dinner box. I had gotten horny at the thought of _Sakura _showering…! Ugh… My next door neighbor is Sakura. Great. Fucking great. It's amazing it took me so long to notice. Amazing. Of _course _that idiot would manipulate my housing situation. He placed me _conveniently _right. Next. To. Her.

I smacked my forehead like a madman in the middle of the street. I had _taunted _her about how good the dinner box was. What the _fuck _is wrong with me!? What the _fuck_ is wrong with her? She was so aloof, so… not like the Sakura I remember. Her hair wasn't as shiny, it was long. She had gotten curvier, her waist was thinner and her hips… had definitely gotten wider. Where were all these things when I saw her in the office before? Sure, I noted the change in her attitude, but… her body? I ran a hand through my bangs. _Stupid _Sakura. She was always _there_.

-X-

Something dangerous is coming… it was like a sixth sense, warning me. I grinned psychotically to myself. Finally. Teme had noticed. Oh man… today's fight was going to be sooooo good.

BOOM!

I jumped from the toppling tree I was just in, and found that Sakura-chan had gotten to me first. Barbarically, she tackled me and was now sitting on me. My hands were up in surrender and I was laughing at the anger in her eyes. There she was, the girl I missed. I haven't seen this much life in her eyes since the war ended!

"NARUTOOOOOO!" She shouted. The birds flew away from the trees. Aw man… This is gonna be great! She pounded her fist into my face. Heh heh… "my" face. Poof! I appeared behind her as she jumped to her feet and spun around, sharp as ever, not even shocked that what she punched into oblivion was my clone. Anbu may have dulled her personality a little but it sure sharpened her sensory abilities.

She was _fuming_! It was great. I grinned again.

"Relax, Sakura-chan." I tried to ease with a slight laugh I couldn't help but let into my voice. Too bad baa-chan wasn't here to see this.

"You… _You _put him there, when I specifically said I wanted to be alone! _Forever! _What part for 'Alone' and 'Forever' don't you understand!?" She as seething, but there was hurt in her eyes now as she was pulling away from the rage that boiled through her veins. I felt bad so I frowned.

"It wasn't just me. It was baa-chan too. And I don't know what's up with the two of you avoiding each other like the plague, but I'm sick of it. I can't hang out with you because you're always gone avoiding Konoha for some reason and I can't hang out with him because he's always gone avoiding everyone in this village that hates him. He needs a friend and so do I." I explained myself clearly, like baa-chan had taught me. It was the only way to calm Sakura-chan, but this time it didn't work. She was so sad and angry and frustrated, she was shaking and I could taste, _smell_ her emotions. Actually, they kinda made me sick to my stomach but it needed to be done… Enough was enough.

"I'm so mad at you, Naruto. You just don't get it!" With that, she turned around, probably sensing teme speeding towards here too. She was gone before I could raise a hand and speak to stop her. Her chakra completely disappeared and Teme's voice was absolutely fucking _vicious_ when he showed up behind me, just seconds later.

"Explain Sakura living right next door to me when there's a whole empty floor of apartments in that building you could have put her in, _Naruto_." Sasuke had his arms crossed and he did _not_ look happy. I grinned at him too. He was peeved, but nowhere near as mad and hurt as Sakura-chan.

-X-

So that's the first chapter. I kind of liked it. I thought it was going to be boring, but as soon as I got into writing from Naruto's point of view things got fun _and_ hectic. Lol Tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ™. All rights reserved. This fiction is purely fan-made and I make no money off of it.

See 'ya Later, Space Cowboy!


	2. This Means War

KISEKI

|2|

WOW! I'm so surprised I already have several followers. Holy crow. Unexpected, but appreciated! I guess SasuSaku is really popular. I'm glad I finally broke free of my block and was able to write them. I couldn't stop thinking about this story. It was like an addiction. It didn't help that it was exceptionally rainy and grey out so all I wanted to do was stay at home, cuddle with kitty, drink tea and write. But no, I'm a hairstylist on a Saturday. Tch. This story is surprisingly easy to update. First person was SO easy to get into I don't know why I was so afraid of it in the first place. Anyway, let's get going! Thanks again for reading and enjoy!

-X-

Angrily, I marched. And I marched and marched and marched. Should I go to Tsunade? No… that will just… get something destroyed, probably. I need a good fight. Faces flew by as I swiftly moved through the crowd. I knew most of them, but most of them remembered my temper enough not to bother me. I can't _believe _Naruto! Didn't he get it!? I wanted to become someone! I wanted to do something amazing other than just be a medic! I wanted to be impressive so I could walk all. Over. That. Smug. Uchiha. BUT NO. Naruto always had his own damned plans. Now I have to interact with Sasuke _before_ I stop feeling like I wasn't good enough for him; _before _I get over the fact that I actually wasn't good enough for him. I know, I should just fucking move on from that, but screw it; I'm a girl and I have feelings and they were hurt and I'm still upset. Deal with it.

What the _hell_; I can't even move out now. Moving out would be stepping down and letting Uchiha Sasuke have MY, yes _my _apartment _floor. _Think about it. Him. Smug little_, good-looking_ Uchiha Sasuke. With an _entire _floor. To _himself._ No. That wasn't happening. I wasn't going to let it happen. Why give him a floor: So he can leave some other poor, stupid girl on a bench and _smugly _return home because he has his own _floor?_ No. Oh, no no no _no_. I have to stay there. Even if I really don't _want _to. It's a matter of holding my ground now.

Naruto, you asshole… you totally just _betrayed _me.

For a while I stomped around. I stomped all the way up to the top of the hokage monument and screamed "fuck you" right from the top of Hashirama Senju's head because _fuck _Uchiha Sasuke's _stupid _ancestor. That's why.

…

…

… I only did it because I knew no one would hear me. Except maybe Sai, whose apartment was nearby. But whatever. I was pissed. Beyond aggravated was the key phrase. Naruto didn't just stomp all over my feelings and the time I needed to get my life together, he started a freakin' turf war. And here I was, starting to think that maybe I lived next to some hot guy that would totally treat me right that may have even been a ninja because he was so quiet. Life hates me. Someone, somewhere with some cosmic ability hates me. A lot. Because my "hot" and "possibly sweet" next door neighbor, not only turned out to be a hot _ninja_, but he turned out to be douchey, self-interested, selfish, _Uchiha Sasuke_. I fell flat on my butt and hugged my knees to my chest, grabbing my overgrown hair into my fists.

"Mmmmraaaaaaaagh!" I had to calm down. There had to be something to do. I was just in the Lightning and Cloud countries and yeah, the guys there were pretty good-looking, but none of them were "bring home to Konoha and show off" material. None of them were "Look I'm too good for you, Sasuke, but here's a guy that _totally _deserves me!" I chewed my lip. Suna. I have to go to Suna. I can't stay here and deal with this shit. I have to somehow convince Tsunade to send me to Suna, and _soon_. Should I write to Gaara personally? Gaara would understand, right? We became good friends after the war. We even wrote to each other sometimes… I mean, I haven't heard from him in like a couple of months but… he'd get me out of Konoha if Tsunade couldn't, or rather _wouldn't_, right? Tears pricked my eyes and my chest sunk to my stomach and my stomach sunk to my intestines. 

Stupid Sasuke. He was always so smug! "The dinner box was good. More protein would have been better. Hn!" I mocked, holding my nose high in the air, and then laughed like a patient with mild psychosis. Oh you smug, holier-than-though son of a bitch… To tell you the truth… I don't know why I was so mad at this point. I don't know why I was so vindictive towards Sasuke. I was honestly starting to scare myself a little. Had his need for revenge poisoned my mind somewhere along the way and made me just like him?

Get a grip, Sakura… Maybe… maybe the best thing was just to ignore him. Maybe I should just be the mature one and live my life. If Sasuke wanted to be "friends" or whatever… why not? Why should I let what I went through for him bother me? He's a teammate. What if it were Sai in his position? What if it were Sai who betrayed us and hurt us? He almost did at one point anyway…

I frowned at the city. If it were Sai, who had become such an integral part of our team, I'd forgive him… So… why is it so hard to let up on Sasuke?

**Because he's not the type who responds to kindness… Let's show 'em hell**_**… **_

Great… I must really be stressed out to need to talk to myself again…

-X-

Going back to my apartment was awkward, but I wouldn't let it show. Smirking, I decided I'd never let it show. Ever. Those few milliseconds of surprise when Sasuke walked out of his door are all I'm granting him. This will be the last time I walked anywhere chained down by my own, silly past and the feelings I used to have for the man. I strode right past his door, smirking at the number: 312. No Sasuke, I won't crucify myself and feel like a failure anymore because you left me on a bench. I'll just show you what you lost, instead.

I unlocked my door and grabbed my nin-pack. I dumped my clothes into it and some shampoo and a book, all thoughts of visiting the hospital were postponed and gone. After I got my stuff for Ino's sleepover ready, I went to the market and bought baking supplies because screw it, I was making cupcakes. Ino and I were gonna get fat and then train all day tomorrow to burn it all off... Whether she liked it or not.

As my cupcakes were finished cooling and I was done making my homemade icing, I heard Sasuke's footsteps. They were heavier. Naruto had obviously given him a beating. Good. I hope Naruto was beaten up too. The footsteps continued on… but they stopped at my door. My heart stopped with his steps and I carefully, stealthily placed down the plastic tube I was using to ice my cupcakes.

Knockknockknock!

Like some sort of machine, I turned and walked to the front door, on complete auto-pilot. I opened it. There he stood. A quick mili-second glance over him and I knew he was bleeding all over the molding to my door.

"Can you hea—

"No."

I shut the door in his face. Go heal yourself. You didn't apologize for anything you did the day after the war ended so why should I heal you after you got messed up by Naruto of all people? You don't deserve the courtesy.

"Sakura." His voice sounded dangerous, even though my door was blocking it. It sounded so dangerous, it made me shudder as I was walking back to my icing on the counter. I was crazy. Surely, I'd gone mad denying to have my hands all over the sexiest ninja in Konoha… but it's high time Sasuke realized I stopped caring a long, long time ago.

"I'm not your nanny. If you need to be someone to blow on your cut go find an iryo-nin at the hospital who's on duty." I calmly spoke from the kitchen and went back to icing my cakes. He wasn't going to think he could use me because of what I said when I was twelve. No way. I'm damn near 21. It's not happening. It's too late for that.

"Hn." Aggravated. He was mad. Trudge…trudge…trudge. Click. Half-slam! More scuffling sounds. The pipes squeaked. He was taking a shower. I smirked in satisfaction, like a fat man eating the last dango left at the stand. I won this round. I was going to make Uchiha Sasuke understand that my heart was not for him to use and break anymore.

-X-

Once my batch of twelve cupcakes were placed into two neat boxes of six, I did dishes, cleaned up and went to go shower. Confidently, I stripped naked and stuck my tongue out at the wall. Stupid Sasuke was probably brooding in his bedroom and he'd _never _get a piece of this. EVER.

-X-

Sakura was in the bathroom… about to shower… excellent. This was the moment I was waiting for… this would be the highlight of my night. This… this was for slamming the door in my face when all I wanted was to maybe talk again after four years of not really speaking. Yes, revenge was worthless… that much I had learned was true, but not when it was about petty things like this. I smirked as she turned the hot water on. Then I went into my bathroom… and I flushed the toilet… and waited… and waited and…

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

SQUELCH-THUMP!

I chuckled to myself at my success. Sakura had fallen out of her shower. Good. Either the water had gotten too hot or too cold. Whichever it was, I didn't care. If she wanted to be heartless, I'd be heartless right back.

"SAAAASSSUKKKEEEEE!" She screeched in aggravation, and my evil grin must have widened. If I was completely honest, I'd have to admit that it was fun to screw around like this. Really. I hadn't done anything like this since Itachi was still alive and our family was still intact. I listened and waited. Good, she wasn't coming after me. She must have gone back into the shower.

*Flush*.

She squealed again, but I kept flushing. I deduced that the water must have ran cold, if she were able to still stand in it. Whatever, she was uncomfortable and that was all I wanted at the moment. After a few minutes of terrorizing her with my constant flushing, she had turned off her water. I smirked and went back into my bedroom. I heard her mumbling things under her breath, but nothing intelligible.

-X-

Stupid, _fucking _Uchiha! Leave it to him to be a child and get right back at me for something stupid! Leave it to him to turn my victory back around on me! What was his _deal_!? Ugh! I threw on a fluttery, pale-yellow summer dress, but I was still quivering from the cold. What a _jerk_! I stepped into white and yellow sandals and grabbed my hairbrush and cupcakes on my way out. Smirking, I stuck my finger into leftover chocolate icing and stealthily rubbed it all over the bottom of his doorknob, then shut my door decisively to make sure he didn't suspect anything. Next time he was walking in, he'd have a nice, sticky surprise waiting for him. Jerkface. I stuck my tongue out at his door and made my way out of my apartment complex towards the Yamanaka compound, licking the tip of my finger clean.

-X-

Mad that she hadn't even pounded on the door to get back at me (why? I don't even know, because why should I care that she wasn't reacting, right?), I pulled my sandals on and decided to go out for dinner. It was getting late and I was hungry after nearly ripping Naruto's throat out… while he was struggling to avoid me doing so all day. Now, let's get a few things straight. I wasn't necessarily angry about Naruto putting Sakura on my floor… right next to my apartment… I was just angry that he didn't tell me. Sakura was a kunoichi and she was a danger to the privacy that I preferred. I wouldn't have minded her on my floor, but… he had put her _right. Next. Door. _Why? Plus, I knew there was a motive behind that decision that he refused to tell me, no matter how many chidoris almost split his limbs from his body. It was aggravating not knowing the answer to something I wanted to know. I hated not being told about things that clearly involved me for obvious reasons, of course.

The worst thing was, I couldn't even move out. All of the new apartments that were being built still had people—civilians— that needed to fill them and I was an anbu that was gone sixty percent of the time. Relocating wasn't considered a top priority for me. I mean, of course I could always just _buy _and reserve a house or a new apartment that was already being built; I had gained access to my family's suspended finances once I was reinstated as a Konoha citizen and shinobi and could technically just retire if I wanted to, but that was stupid and unnecessary and Tsunade obviously helped Naruto orchestrate… whatever plan they had come up with, and she would probably put a hefty price on asserting my own needs above the needs of the Konoha civilians. She'd probably flat-out reject my idea to move elsewhere. Whatever. I didn't feel like moving my stuff anyway so I'd have to deal with my ex-teammate living next door until Naruto was done having his fun.

After circling around it a few times, I decided I'd eat at a barbeque stand tonight. The smells made my stomach growl so I wasted no more time with my thoughts and walked in to order some takeout. Choji's parents had apparently opened up this restaurant in their name and had mentioned that I was welcome. Thankfully these people didn't seem to mind my presence and some even smiled at me and greeted me by name. Tonight was going to be a long, long night of thinking and meditating.

"Yo Sasuke." I felt a hand on my shoulder. There stood Kakashi. I held up a lazy hand in greeting as I scanned the menu. My former sensei was having none of it and decided to drag me by my collar to a table. Ugh… here we go… Bonding time with my first sensei…

-X-

"Wait, whaaaaaat!" Ino shrieked, almost dropping my cupcakes as we walked past the gates of her clan's compound. I smelled the familiar scent of myrrh incense the Yamanakas often meditated around and smiled. Ino's house was always like a second home to me.

"Yep. Naruto moved Sasuke next door to me." I re-stated.

"Okaaaay… but that doesn't explain why you're shivering…" Ino said slowly as the shock wore off, but I could tell her mind was already prowling across all of the possible reasons Naruto wanted to move Sasuke of all people next door to me.

"Ugh… that… that requires details…" I responded, not wanting to relive the cold shower that I had to take at the mercy of my _asshole_ next door neighbor.

Ino chuckled and knocked on someone's door. I wondered why we were stopping at someone's house when hers was at the heart of the compound.

"Ino?" I queried, letting the confusion show in my voice.

"Shh!" She hissed. Just then, the sliding rice paper door rolled open and a man with wispy, wild light-blonde hair and green eyes opened the door. He bowed to Ino, dressed in a simple white t-shirt paired with black cargo shorts. He was muscular and had a tiny vertical scar on the bottom of his left eye. Wow… who was this guy?

"Oi, Suchiru!" Ino greeted. The man, around our age maybe a year or two older seemed to be a close cousin of Ino's, if the hair was anything to go by.

"Ah, hello Ino-sama and the _famous_ Haruno Sakura-san. A pleasure to meet you in person." He spoke calmly and bowed. Flustered that he actually knew who I was, I bowed back. I'd never get used to being well-known, being the nobody I was compared to Naruto and Sasuke practically my entire life.

"Sakura made a few extra cupcakes. Do you want some?" Ino explained ever-so-sweetly.

I glared daggers at my best friend. That pig! I wanted to gorge on cupcakes and cry about how I was stronger than anything Naruto could throw at me! How dare she just go and ruin it!?

Suchiru-san chuckled warmly at my expression and I found that I liked his laugh. He had a deep, smooth tone that seemed familiar; I just couldn't place where I'd heard his voice before.

"I'll take the box and pass it around." He grinned, knowing exactly why Ino didn't want to eat six cupcakes by herself. "'Can't have you gaining weight before your birthday, can we?" He shook his head as if the notion was ridiculous to even himself and his locks of blonde danced around his face. God he was sexy. Where was this sexy cousin of Ino's last time I was here? Is it hot all of a sudden or is that just me?

"Thanks. Don't be afraid to chow on a couple of those yourself. I know you like sweets." She winked and then grinned evilly and poked his six pack that I suddenly, _really _wanted to see.

He narrowed his emeralds at her remark and suddenly, I saw the ninja come out from behind the angel's face.

"Shhh… the anbu can't know…." He deadpanned seriously and I almost thought he had meant it, but just like that he was grinning again as Ino and I cracked up at the joke. Casually, he leaned his muscled frame against the doorway, opened one of the boxes and pulled out a chocolate-iced cupcake… with pink sprinkles. I was embarrassed by my pastry, as it was obviously _not _made for a man. He smiled regardless as he dexterously pulled apart the "cup" part of the little cake and bit into it like it was no big deal being a manly ninja, eating girly sweets in front of girls and being quite possibly the sexiest shinobi in the village next to Uchiha Sasuke as he did so. Grrr… Sasuke… I glared at the rice paper door. The memory of my ex-teammate always ruined everything.

"Mmmm these are good." He commented jovially after he swallowed. "Anyway, you probably wanna go to Nana-san's house; the kids are all having a karaoke night over there and I'm sure they'd be more than happy to get a go at one of these." He explained, then chuckled. "Pink." He murmured, probably talking about the sprinkles. I blushed again. Stop dissecting my baked goods with those sexy eyes! It's not fair! "I didn't know the best doctor in the shinobi world was also the best baker as well." He complemented suddenly and I was surprised…

"That's Sakura for ya!" Ino grinned, mercifully saving me from embarrassing myself before I could open my mouth and say something stupid in response. Thank you Ino! "See ya later, Suchiru!"

"Thanks again, Ino, Sakura-san. These are wonderful." He spoke, the utmost sincerity in his tone.

"Thanks… I mean, you're welcome." I shook my head, bowed once more and left with Ino as he smiled one last time and shut his door.

"Ooh, I think Suchiru liiiiiikes youuuuuu." She cooed in a stealthy whisper and I didn't hesitate to reach out and punch her arm.

"Stop it; why do you have to say things like that in that way! I'm having a crisis!" I reminded her in a hiss. Ino giggled as we ducked down a narrow street and passed several more houses.

-X-

After unloading four more cupcakes and saving the last two for ourselves— which, admittedly, it was the smarter thing to do rather than stuff six of them down each of our throats— we headed over to Ino's house where I greeted her mother in the kitchen, and caught up on life here and there. After chit-chatting we headed back up to Ino's grand room that had a king-sized bed atop a wooden platform (for massive sleepovers, I realized) and a small library of magazines and romance novels in one corner and a TV directly across from the massive bed, which took up the middle of the relatively square room. In another corner were her walk-in closet and vanity table and mirror. I was mildly jealous that Ino was so accomplished as a female and as a kunoichi. In many ways, she _still _had me beat. I probably _still_ looked like a skinny boy with overgrown hair next to her, even _if _my boobs had thankfully (like Tsunade-sama said they would) grown into full-B's. I sighed at my lack of femininity. I _had_ to be low-maintenance to be a good kunoichi. That was it. It was either one thing or the other and I couldn't balance both, unfortunately.

I plopped onto her bed in an unladylike starfish position and squeaked when she threw a purple sweater at me. I gratefully took the soft article and covered myself with it like a blanket, though I was warmer now, thanks to that obnoxiously handsome Suchiru. Suchiru… his name meant "steel". He was made to be deadly, but he was so friendly and had such a great attitude, I smiled thinking about him. The world needed more people like that, people who couldn't and wouldn't let the world break them down… people like Naruto.

"So why do you look like world is caving in on you, forehead girl, and why are you cold?" She got right down to the bottom of it; leave it to Ino.

"Okay. Naruto decided to get back at me for not having ramen with him and Sasuke and decided to move Sasuke into the apartment next to mine." I almost groaned, remembering the situation I was in.

Ino tried to hold back a laugh but failed. I glared at her as she giggled away.

"Shut _up_ it's _not_ funny." I stressed and she held her hands up in silent surrender.

"Okay, okay… go on... what happened?" She urged.

"Well, I don't know, you know how he makes me feel crappy about myself. I don't want to be around someone who reminds me constantly just by existing that I was never good enough for him, even as a friend." I shrugged and Ino quieted because the conversation had gotten serious; emotional. She understood and I was so grateful for it.

"So whatever, I was making cupcakes because I was upset because Naruto basically betrayed me. And then Sasuke knocked on my door." I glared at her crème colored ceiling.

"Ooh. This sounds like a good story… go on…" Of course, Ino would get excited anyway.

"It's not a good story. He was beat up and had the nerve to ask me to heal him. Mind you, he only had a few petty injuries; it wasn't _that_ bad. Could you believe the audacity he has? After leaving me on a bench and almost killing me he has the balls to ask me to heal him like I'm his personal nurse. After _four_ years. Who does that?" I asked, only now realizing how bizarre it was for Sasuke to suddenly just want to interact after four years of completely _not _interacting; like at all. Not even seeing each other's faces.

"Maybe he _wants _you to be his 'personal' nurse." Ino winked and joked lecherously, but I ignored her.

"Anyway, I slammed the door in his face and told him to go to the hospital if he really needed it taken care of that bad, which he didn't. He just went back to his place."

"Okay… that was um, maybe mean, I guess… So how did you get cold? I'm still not getting it…" Now Ino had picked up some kunoichi fashion magazine and was lying on the bed next to me, her blonde hair intertwining with my ratty, pink strands. I grimaced at the memory of what he did to get back at me. Jerk.

"I went to go shower to clean up after the cupcakes and you know what he did Ino?" I was frowning now. Really; someone had cursed me at some point….

I heard her place the magazine down on her stomach and could feel her gaze on me as I spoke.

"He flushed the toilet… the whole way through my shower…" I revealed pathetically.

"AAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ino burst into uncontrollable laughter and I covered my face because Sasuke totally owned me… with a toilet… It was the single most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me since my life as a professional kunoichi actually began.

"You're lying Sakura, Sasuke-kun's not that funny." She giggled to herself. Ugh, how could she still affectionately call him Sasuke-_kun _ after he just abused me with a toilet amongst everything else he's done to me and Naruto? Stupid Ino. I love her but sometimes I hate her.

"I'm not kidding!" I sat up and glared at her in disbelief and she laughed again.

"So he made you take a cold shower from the comfort of his own bathroom— that's too funny." She commented. "What did you do?" She asked curiously, mirth still in her eyes.

I smirked cruelly like Orochimaru himself.

"I rubbed icing all over the bottom of his doorknob." I spoke, mischievously proud of myself.

"Sakura, you bitch!" Ino backhanded my forearm and I had to laugh.

"What? He deserves what he gets!" I shot back heatedly. It was true!

"What do you think he'll do when he decides to get back at you for messing with his doorknob!? That's not solving anything!"

-X-

"So, so you mean to tell me—

Kakashi was drunk. Wonderful. My sensei was enjoying my reasoning as to why Sakura looked "madder than Tsunade on a good day" when she was walking through the village earlier. Why does it not surprise me that he somehow knew what Naruto had plotted… and is refusing to tell me any extra details as to why Sakura was placed next to me? I sighed. Kakashi was secretive; every bit what a ninja should be. He should get some sort of reward because I couldn't even use my sharingan to pry the information out of him.

"— You mean you _actually _made Sakura-chan take a cold shower? That's hilarious. Naruto's rubbing off on you." Kakashi chuckled as he took another sip of sake from the little sake dish on his side of the table. I sipped from mine and nodded, wondering how he was sipping sake through his mask.

"Wow… that's a serious achievement." He continued. "… And you're still alive? You should be given a medal of honor and bravery." He commented jokingly.

"She deserved it." I responded petulantly. "She slammed the door in my face." I reiterated. Was he not listening earlier or did he just not care that I was disrespected first?

"Maybe you deserved the door in your face." Kakashi was still joking, but there was a deeper inflection in his tone that made me wonder if he was half-serious. I poured myself some warm sake from the bottle into my dish and picked it up, staring into it. Did I deserve that? Well… maybe… I wondered if she was still mad about everything before and during the war…did Sakura want, or rather, _need_ a formal apology from me? Naruto didn't seem to need one, so why did she? I mulled that over in my slightly tipsy haze. But we haven't even spoken since the war ended… she hasn't been around… As a shinobi and a former teammate shouldn't she understand that the past is the past? Life goes on? I glared at the table as I downed my sake. I don't get her. Seriously. What the hell changed about her? She used to be so easy to read and straightforward. Now I can't figure out what the hell is in her head.

…

Why do I even care?

-X-

Later that night I was happy to see that Sakura was gone. I would be at peace tonight, thankfully. I pressed the key into my lock and unlocked my door, but as I turned the knob, something mushy and disgusting made its way in between my fingers. I shuddered at the sensation…

My first thought was…

Shit.

… It was shit.

Because it was brown and it felt _exactly_ like shit. Sakura at some point had actually taken the time to smear _shit_ underneath my doorknob. I couldn't believe it. Seriously? Did she really go so far as to be _disgusting_?

I tensed my abdominal muscles to prevent myself from throwing up. Hurriedly, I kicked open my door and flicked on the lights with my clean hand. I ran to my sink. Some kunoichi's _fucking _shit was on my hand. ON. MY. HAND. I've never been so disgusted in my life. I ran the water in the sink and took a breath to steady my nausea. Gutting enemies was easier than this. I realized that I'd _actually _rather be covered in blood than in shit. Great. No ninja should _ever_ have to come to a conclusion like that.

I glared at the feces on my hand, as I realized that the abominable stuff wasn't coming off as easily as it should for being what it was…

…

…

What kind of weird shit did Haruno Sakura take?

Cautiously, I used my other hand to touch it and realized that it wasn't actually shit. It was chocolate. Specifically, it was fudge of some sort. I brought it closer to my face and smelled it. In the dim light, it still looked like shit, but now, it definitely smelled like chocolate. I tasted it and my face contorted. It was sickeningly sweet. It was chocolate.

Of course. I had seen the cupcakes behind her earlier. Sakura had taken the time to smear _chocolate _underneath my doorknob; Not shit. Thank kami-sama. I didn't know whether to be relieved that it wasn't what I thought it was, or to be angry because now I have chocolate on my hands like some two-year-old caught up in his mother's baking supplies. Growling, I poured some dishwashing liquid and scrubbed the rest of the stuff off. Fucking Sakura… She knew how to be _annoying _as usual…

And to think that I was actually, _really_ thinking about swallowing my pride and formally apologizing to her for everything I did… Yeah right…

"…You wanted a war, Sakura? You got it…" I smirked as I plotted what I was going to do to her apartment…or her, for that matter, next. I had half a mind to squat in front of her door and do my business there next time I had to, but that would be taking it too far. I smirked as a better idea struck my imagination. If she was going to smear her favorite food all over my doorknob, I was going to smear mine all over her door…

-X-

The next morning I made it my priority to go to the hospital and see how things were going there. Shizune happily handed me a labcoat after she updated my records and told me to play nice with the anbu team that was coming in for a once-over before they went on a mission. There were four of them. One was a Hyuuga by the name of Tetsuo. He surprisingly had short brown hair and looked a little rough like Kiba usually did but his manners completely offset the way he looked. Interesting. The second anbu operative was Yugao-san. She seemed to be faring rather well, long purple hair and all. She looked like she hadn't aged a day since I last saw her four years ago. The third operative surprised me…

-X-

I sat waiting in the hospital next to a blonde Yamanaka, dreading the doctor's visit and the impromptu mission right after a night of light drinking with Kakashi and getting revenge on Sakura's apartment. I didn't care for alcohol much because it never made me drunk unless I had it in large quantities (no thanks to Orochimaru and his poison-conditioning), but Kakashi seemed to want to make it his goal to have it grow on me. The iryo-nin was going to have a fit when he or she looked over my liver. The door opened and the female of our team walked out, waving at the Yamanaka next to me. The blonde with familiar green eyes stood, and walked into the room.

"Ah, Sakura-san!" He exclaimed and my ears immediately zeroed in on his voice… and the fact that the mortal enemy of my apartment turf-war was going to be my examiner… great.

"Suchiru-san!" Came the surprised reply just as the door closed.

Wait. What. They knew each other? Since when had Sakura had time to make friends. She was gone more than myself these last four years… I practically _felt _my ears growing bigger as I did my best to listen through the door. It was a regular check-up room so it shouldn't be too hard to eavesdrop. It just took a little bit of chakra… just a little… and their conversation was mine to hear. What was wrong with me? Why was I so fucking curious all of a sudden? Maybe I needed this mission to clear my head a little after all…

"It's good to see you again." The Yamanaka spoke. I glared at the wall. He sounded so much like my older brother… it actually peeved me because it hit a soft spot somewhere in my chest. It sounded like _Itachi _was in there with Sakura… being _nice _to her… when she _just _slammed a door in my face…_and_ smeared chocolate all over my doorknob… I heard the crinkling of wax paper and knew he had sat down.

"Please remove your shirt, Suchiru-san." Sakura spoke professionally.

"Oh, moving along rather quickly, are we?" The Yamanaka joked and I had to glare. As if that pathetic line would make Sakura—

She giggled as if to mock me. He actually made her laugh. I don't know why I started to dislike him more.

"Nice joke, but you _do _know that as a doctor I see thousands of torsos a day, Suchiru-san, ne?" Nice one. She wasn't going to let him in so easily. At least Sakura wasn't _completely _stupid.

"I'm aware. Are you saying mine isn't impressive?" Bold bastard. Sakura laughed again and I heard the rustling of fabric.

"Breathe in please." Back to the professional tone. I smirked. She wasn't making it easy for him.

-X-

I ignored Suchiru's response and pretended he was any ordinary man. Just do your job Sakura, I told myself. Just do your job… No need to make this visit awkward… even though I wanted to know what he looked like under his clothes just last night… Maybe someone up there was actually giving me a gift, to apologize for Sasuke becoming my next door neighbor at Naruto's machination.

After getting his weight, temperature, and checking his eyes and his chakra, I pulled out a tool to check his reflexes.

"You seem to be in a good mood today, Sakura-san. Was my cousin pleasant company last night?" He asked to change the subject and keep our conversation going. Points to him; he was putting in a lot of effort.

"Oh Ino?" I grinned at the mention of my best friend. "Ino's Ino, but only I can say that because she's my best friend. It's always good to see her." I shrugged light-heartedly.

"Mhm… it'd be nice to see you more often. Perhaps you'd like to go out some time after this mission concludes?" Bold…. This man was bold. Incredible.

Just then his knee kicked. I forgot I was checking his reflexes for a second. I was so startled at his abrupt invitation to a date that I looked up after tapping him with the little hammer and he accidentally nudged me in the hip with the tip of his sandal.

"Ow." I responded and rubbed the sore spot. Great. Stupid, Sakura. Suchiru's wide green eyes looked almost horrified. His cheeks turned red and I actually thought it was cute.

"Sorry! It was just a reflex!" I looked over at him and gaped at his horrible pun. Half naked, he held his hands up and shrugged, giving me a sheepish look. I laughed at his purposeful foolishness and shook my head.

"Sure. After your mission. If I'm around." I responded and continued my examination.

"Oh, if you're around?" He queried, curious now.

"I tend to disappear for a while. My own missions are usually extensive." I explained, checking the rest of his joints. Everything was in tip-top shape… and I mean _everything_. I tried not to drool at the sexy "v" right at the waistband of his nin-pants… ugh… of all the gorgeous men with great personalities, why did the sexiest one have to get checked by me today? Stupid Ino probably plotted this… I grimaced to myself. She _would _too. She was sneaky like that. Tch. Drama-queen.

"Then maybe I'll go beg hokage-sama to keep you here until after I return." He joked. I smiled. It was easy to laugh around him. He was being sweet too.

"You can try but my shisho doesn't just do favors for anyone." I joked back and Suchiru chuckled.

"So I've heard. It must have been difficult training under her." He commented as I put my stuff away while he dressed.

-X-

Sakura seemed to pause before she responded, then nonchalantly she replied…

"It was necessary."

I felt a pang of guilt. Did she undergo something she shouldn't have because of me? Actually, that shouldn't be a question… No one should have to contemplate saving their own teammate from their insanity by killing them… it was fucked up that she felt the need to do that at any point in her life… that she was forced into that kind of corner by my actions alone… I tried not to focus on those thoughts and continued listening…

"So I'll see you when I get back, if you're here." I couldn't help but frown. Maybe because it was like hearing _Itachi _ask Sakura out, not this Yamanaka, Suchiru, whoever he was. When he spoke I saw my brother's face in my mind; I saw black hair, not blonde. Or maybe I was glaring because I didn't like the tone he used with her… it was the same tone I used when I was on missions and had to do what I had to do with women.

"Mm." Sakura simply responded. "If I'm here." Why did you agree Sakura? Can't she tell he really just wants to fuck her? I pretended to be counting tiles when the door opened. The scumbag Yamanaka waved at me. I nodded, just so he wouldn't suspect that I was mildly pissed at him. I sat down with an attitude and Sakura immediately noticed.

"Shirt… off." She explained shortly as she picked up a stethoscope. So I pulled my shirt off. Not a single reaction out of her. Nothing. I glared at her. What the _fuck_? She'd be blushing if it were four or five years ago…

"Breathe in."

I did.

"Did you like the surprise I left for you?" She smirked wryly. I resisted smirking back. I still wanted my revenge to be a surprise for her too…

I exhaled deeply.

"I thought it was shit." I replied honestly.

She snickered, knowing exactly how I meant that sentence.

"That guy just wants to fuck you." I warned her, suddenly. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. What the _hell _was wrong with me?

"I know."

Wait. What? What the fuck was this? She was just going to _let _him wine and dine her till he got what he wanted? Who was this woman? I stared at her oddly, as if she was some foreign painting I had to make sense of. I went back to glaring. Whatever. If she wanted to fuck some Yamanaka asshole she could. Who was I to stop her?

"Sasuke?" She asked almost blandly as she motioned towards the scale. I kicked off my sandals and stepped on it. She scribbled a few things down, and checked my eyes when I stepped off. Everything was silent, but I felt an odd tension building… I was uncomfortable in her presence for some reason. I sat back down on the table and she asked me to hold my arm out, palm up, and then make a fist. I did. She looked closely at my veins for some reason. Mystified, I looked on with her, not realizing she had tricked me into a false sense of safety. She grabbed my arm harshly and pressed her thumb into a sensitive pressure point. I jolted forward because I had no choice in the matter as the reaction was natural and almost fell into her. She used my weight against me and pushed me up against the wall with a killer taijutsu move I have no idea where she learned from. And then she got in my face…

"If you ever, and I mean _ever _stick your smug, Uchiha nose into my business again, I'll make sure to take out the part of your brain that makes you curious about such things in your sleep." She threatened, jade eyes boring into mine with a fire I knew I had felt coming. I glared back at her, not realizing that in my rush of adrenaline, my sharingan had activated and she was staring fiercely into it. She had meant her threat. Her voice was low and promising when she spoke, telling me where my place was. I hated it. I hated it only because it was _her_ that was threating me this way. What the _fuck _happened to "I'll love you forever, Sasuke-kun?" After looking at my face for a few more seconds, she released me, slightly shoving me against the wall via my arm and went back to her charts, scribbled more things down. I sat back down on the table and we finished the rest of the exam in tense silence.

-X-

Sasuke left, slamming the door as usual when he was mad. Douchebag. Who the _fuck _was he to talk garbage about the people who were interested in me!? How was it any of his business? Why the _fuck_ did he invade my privacy and eavesdrop on my conversation!? Now, I'm _really _going to make it my goal to get Suchiru into bed with me. Just to piss Sasuke off. And when I do, I'm going to screw him as loudly as possible just to grate on that smug bastard's nerves. Asshole.

-X-

What the _fuck _was her problem!? I was just trying to warn her because she was going to get played like a fucking flute and she _freaked _out! Furthermore where the _fuck _was Kakashi or her _father _for that matter to put her in her fucking place!? Sakura… _Sakura_ of all people… shouldn't just be _fucking _guys and whatever like it doesn't matter. Not Sakura. That's just… that bitch in there is _not _Sakura. Pissed, I trudged through the street until I spotted who I was looking for. Naruto. At Ichiraku. By himself. Perfect. I grabbed him by the collar of his floor-length orange jacket and pulled him right off the stool and into the side street.

"Oi! OI! Teme what the _hell!? _That was my _lunch _you just interrupted!" I shoved him against the wall almost as roughly as Sakura had shoved me. I was beyond angry. Everything else but Naruto had a white-ish blur to it.

"Tell me the truth." I glared holes into him. I activated my sharingan, just to make it a point that I was serious.

"What are you talk abou~oiiiiI!" I shook him to interrupt him. He damn well knew what I was talking about.

"What happened to Sakura." Because that wasn't Sakura. It just wasn't. I wouldn't believe it.

"What do you mean? Is Sakura-chan in trouble or something?"

No. Kinda. Yes. But that wasn't what I was asking.

"Did Sakura have her memories altered after the war?" I pressured impatiently... Because that was the only logical explanation for why she was acting so… so _not_ Sakura.

"No. Why?" That was an honest answer. Naruto was surprised I had asked a question like that. It showed in his genuinely confused expression. He wasn't lying. There were no back-alley post-war experiments on shinobi or their memories.

"Fuck. Nevermind." I dropped him and left. Thankfully, he didn't bother going after me. Maybe it was because I had my hands in my pockets again. Maybe it was because his ramen was still waiting for him. Either way, I was thankfully left alone with my thoughts…

I hoped and prayed to whoever was listening that Sakura hated what I did to her apartment… Because I was really hating what she was starting to do to me.

-X-

SOOOOOOOO there we have it. Like? Hate? Review. Lol

Disclaimer: Naruto ™ belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and whoever else owns it. Not me. I don't make money writing this. This work is purely fan-made.

See ya Later Space cowboy!


	3. Truce and Cease-Fire

KISEKI

|3|

Okaaaaaay so I like the feedback I'm getting! I like details though, so don't be afraid to tell me what can be improved! I'm so happy you guys find this fic funny! =] Thank you again to all my reviewers, and please keep in mind that if you're confused, you can always PM me about something you guys aren't clear about. I have a very subtle way of inserting information into the storyline! SO I apologize in advance but if you guys need me to be clearer, or more obvious about certain things let me know!

This chapter is sponsored by my crazy life, crazy dreams and imaginations. Enjoy!

-X-

After my "Sasuke incident" this morning at the hospital, I actually had a good day. I eased back into healing and surgeries rather quickly, and being back in the hospital with the highest level of clearance was refreshing. I felt in control. I felt important and I felt accomplished. Shizune relieved me around three in the afternoon and I was comfortably walking home, just ambling around. I decided to stop at the market and would ya look at that? There was Kakashi-sensei, reading some smut at a black-label stand. Of course. I walked up to my sensei and put a hand on my hip.

"Aren't you getting a little old for that?" I queried and my sensei looked up, bored. I could tell he wasn't paying attention to the book, just wasting time existing, I guess. And I could tell that he was aware of my presence well before I actually confronted him.

"Well if it isn't my favorite iryo-combat-anbu." Kakashi-sensei responded.

I smirked. We both knew Rin-san was his favorite iryo nin; and Obito-san his favorite lazy nin. My smirk faded into a soft smile and I crossed my arms.

"I've been back two days and you haven't come to say hello?" I queried, feigning an offended tone. I missed BSing with Kakashi-sensei, to be perfectly honest.

"You've been back two days and you haven't come to say hello?" My sensei echoed and I gave him a wry smile. He was as slick as ever.

"Well I'm saying hello now, sensei. How have you been?" I gave in easily this time because I really wanted to know if he was okay… if he was healing right; not physically, but emotionally, mentally.

"Allright. How about yourself?" He asked. "My birds have told me that you've been taking cold showers."

Aaaaaaaand my mood. It died. Thanks Kakashi-sensei.

"Yes I think we're all aware that Sasuke has mental issues." I sniped back. I did _not _come here to talk about Sasuke. I came here to ask if sensei was okay. "But that's not why I'm talking to you. I could care less about my living issues. I wanted to know how you're doing and if you're okay." I reiterated, reigning my temper. Woooo-saaaaah, Sakura… wusa….

"Sakura, believe me I'm fine." He stressed, looking up into my eyes this time so I could note that he really did mean it. I sighed. Okay. What now? Sometimes sensei was unreadable. "Are any of the suiton jutsu I taught you helping in the field?" Kakashi-sensei asked to change the subject. I smiled happily. Good. He was conceding for now. We were talking about things that I wanted to talk about. Good.

"Yes; actually they are. I made a whip out of water by applying the same principles of chakra control that Tsunade-sama taught me. It's getting easier and easier to use." I smiled proudly.

"I hope you're not whipping your patients, boyfriends, or either of my cute little students, Sakura." Kakashi-sensei deadpanned and I laughed at the thought of chasing Naruto down with my mizu-muchi no jutsu. Actually… that sounded like a good idea, but only for when I feel like looking at his face again... It still hurt that he went behind my back after I told him I wanted nothing to do with Sasuke and nothing to do with being Sasuke's friend for a while, at least until I felt certain that I felt nothing for him and was okay with that. I had been avoiding the whole issue for four years because I simply didn't want to deal with it and now Naruto was _forcing _me to deal with it. I became somber and lost in thought for longer than I believed and my sensei sighed, put his smut down and placed his hands on my shoulders as I snapped back to reality.

"Come talk with me, if you'll listen to an old man's words." I looked at Kakashi-sensei strangely and nodded. We walked on in silence for many minutes until we came upon a park. Like little kids we waited for the swings to be free and sat on them when the screaming, energetic little kids ran away to play "ninja" without a care in the world.

"I'm gonna catch you with my Gokakyu no jutsu!" A little boy in brown slacks and a bright green tee shouted.

And like a mini version of Sasuke, the boy with curly beige hair and dark endless eyes took a deep breath and blew out nothing but air. But to the little girl with bright blonde hair and violet eyes that it was pointed at, it was real. She ducked and rolled clumsily and haughtily exclaimed that it had missed her, but she was holding her arm as if it really had been burnt. I smiled at the scene until Kakashi cleared his throat. Idly, I began swinging, because I was nervous. Because I knew this conversation was going to be heavy and filled with things I wasn't going to like. But I had a nice time running away from everything for four years. That was fun. I had kissed a boy, dated a couple of guys, lost my virginity, drank, helped people heal and celebrated at many parties, all away from home as a stranger in a strange village. I had gallivanted enough and it was time to hear Kakashi sensei's disapproval of what I had become.

Surprisingly, that's not the talk he gave me.

"I don't know why Naruto and Tsunade-sama moved Sasuke in next to you. I don't know why Sasuke still thinks he was there first."

And my mouth dropped open. Wait. What. Who was the number one most unpredictable ninja, again? If Naruto had that title, he had just lost it, because I wasn't expecting that. At all. I shut my mouth because I didn't know what I wanted to say. So I figured I'd listen instead of speak.

"But I do know that maybe the three of you will move past everything that happened if you just let yourself become friends again." My sensei spoke sagely. It was good advice. But it wasn't politically correct.

"We were never friends to begin with." I commented sadly, because it was true. Naruto and I were friends. Naruto and Sasuke were friends. But Sasuke disliked me; always and forever.

"You and Sasuke?" He hit the nail right on the head.

Hatake Kakashi was no idiot.

"It's not that I haven't forgiven him." I held up my hand. "I've already kind of have. You have to, when someone hurts you to the point where they can't hurt you anymore… It's just that I never got my apology and I understand that I never will get my apology… and there just isn't anything to salvage of a friendship if there was no bond or connection there to begin with. It was always Naruto and Sasuke, sensei. I was just the extra. I wasn't even a useful extra." I shrugged. Things were as they were. They couldn't be changed now.

I don't know why I used film-analogies to define our roles in our lives, but it worked. Kaka-sensei got it.

"So why don't you start over? There's a bond. You three were a great team." He offered in an optimistic tone.

"No sensei; remember? Unimportant extra?" I pointed to myself for emphasis. "They had to save me all the time… if I knew… If only Tsunade-sama had been here earlier…"

I shook my head clear of my regrets. Everything had played out the way it did. There was no use in wondering 'what-if' anymore.

"So you think they have the same opinion of you that they did back then; is that why you don't _want _to reconnect?" He asked. Again, he was practically right on the money.

"Kind of. I want to be sure that I can hold together on my own before I run back to them." I shrugged, giving the best answer I possibly could. It wasn't easy dancing around the fact that I wanted to triple check and be sure that I didn't feel anything for Sasuke anymore before I became friends with him.

"I see… then you have a lot of 'making sure' to do. I can't tell you what to do, Sakura-chan. But start by being friends. After all, you can't prove anything to people who don't even see you, ne?" He smiled his crinkly-eyed smile and I jumped off the swing. Hesitantly, I hugged my sensei, hoping he didn't find it weird. He hugged me back.

"Arigato." I spoke softly and let go. Kakashi sensei nodded and shunshinned away, disappearing in a flurry of leaves. Being reminded of Rin-san and Obito-kun, I made my way to the Uchiha graveyard. I felt stalkerish and strange visiting the place that held Sasuke's family members, but whatever. I had heard that Sasuke had put the graves where the old compound used to stand. There was a stone pillar, a picture and a name for every Uchiha they could find a record on. It was a nice park now surrounded by trees and flowers. It was peaceful and worked well with the new village's layout. I made my way to the memorial and passed through the small, stone shrines in front that marked the entrance. I walked until I found the rows of graves and stopped at the most recent one for the most recent Uchiha that died: Uchiha Obito. I never knew him personally, but he was a friend of Kaka-sensei's so he was a friend of mine. I saw down cross-legged and smiled at the picture of a young, energetic Obito complete with goggles and an ear-to-ear grin.

"Hey." I started, feeling a little strange and spiritual. "Your family members are crazy, you know that? How do I go about making friends with one?" I laughed at myself for a minute but smiled again at the picture. How would this conversation go if Obito were actually alive and hadn't died? I frowned. He'd be different than the Obito in the picture here. He'd be half-insane in Ino's care; for sure. I hugged myself and wondered if he asked to be killed when all the fighting was done. I shuddered.

"Just please… if you're listening… make it easier for me… okay?"

I pressed my hands together and bowed, then stood up and dusted grass off of my butt. I walked forward and for some reason, I felt compelled to look back. Another lonely pillar with a different name caught my eyes, right next to Obito-san's.

Uchiha Itachi. I had met the man only once… that one time with Naruto… But Naruto had told me that he had been on our side the entire time. Another complicated person. I backtracked and kneeled down because this was Sasuke's brother and as much trouble as Sasuke had caused me, a hero, his _brother_ deserved respect. I sighed. What to say to this spirit?

"I didn't know you very well, but I heard from Naruto that you were a good person, despite what you did; even that one time when we met on opposite sides of the field you were still working for our side. I'm sure you remember. I don't know what trouble you had to endure, but I hope you're at peace now…" I got that strange feeling again and I felt a comforting chill run through my spine. I don't exactly know how a chill could be comforting but that one somehow was.

I touched the picture softly and noted how beautiful his face was. Uchiha Itachi would have made a fine husband and a wonderful father, and if he was as kind-hearted, funny and wise as Naruto said he was, he'd be an amazing friend to have around. I huffed at his picture, because I knew I had one hell of a task ahead of me.

"You know what else Naruto says? Naruto says that Sasuke needs a friend. I don't know how to be a friend to him, but I hope that maybe, somewhere along the way, while you're busy protecting him, you can help me out too…if it's not too much to ask for, of course… Rest easy, Itachi-san."

I put my hands together and bowed my head and just then… BOOM CRASH! Thunder and lightning. Tiny droplets of rain turned into huge tears that felt like someone was drumming on my scalp when they hit it.

Shit. I hadn't brought an umbrella. I frowned at the grave.

"Or you can make it rain, Itachi-san… I know you Uchiha are funny like that…" I grimaced and stood. I looked at the two graves. Usually, when you visit a grave, you leave flowers. I had come here with nothing but my thoughts. I smirked wryly. I'd give them both what I had given to Sasuke's cause, because they were Uchiha too and it was fitting: my hair. I pulled a kunai out of my weapons pouch and sliced off just a little piece of wet hair. I placed the tiny pink lock on top of Obito-san's pillar. Then, I carefully sliced another tiny lock and placed it atop Itachi-san's pillar too. I put my hands together one more time, bowed to both pillars in utmost respect and ran from the pouring rain. I was getting soaked to the bone and visiting Rin-san would have to wait until later. For now, I just ran to my apartment.

-X-

I was pissed when I got to the door and found that my douchey neighbor (*cough*Sasuke*cough*) had smeared tomatoes all. Over. My. Door. After I had made peace with him in my mind, too! The acid from the fruit had sunk into the wood and washed it a paler color. It looked awful, and I was ready to pull Sasuke out of his apartment by his neck and punch him in the face, but I had spoken an oath at the Uchiha graves and practically made it a promise to try to be friends with the smug jerk so I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose instead. I would have to be the bigger person here.

"Sasuke." I called his name, stoically, trying to keep the aggravation out of my tone. I knew he was home. I heard him get up, even with the sound of the thunder outside. He was making it obvious that he had heard me and was coming. The knob jiggled and now he was standing at his doorway, looking me over. His eyes flicked from my hair, to my arms, to my feet, to the door, then back to my face. I held out my soaked, chilled hand. He looked at it, arms crossed across his chest as I dripped water to the floor.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Silence.

I would have to do the talking. I visibly rolled my eyes; not caring that he noticed.

"This is stupid." I started, because it was. And partially because I was selfish and wanted to take a warm shower after being drenched in the rain. I did _not _want a cold shower after being out in a storm. Granted, I had dealt with freezing showers before because I had to as a kunoichi. Sometimes, all you had to wash with was cold water, but seriously. This was my home. I wanted to be comfortable here. I gestured towards the door, owned in tomatoes and tomato juice. There were four tomatoes in total currently rotting on the floor, and Sasuke was glaring at me.

"Your icing under my doorknob was stupid." He replied. Because it was. I nodded, slowly… really slowly. Yes, yes Sasuke, I know. It was stupid. You want a cookie for deducing that that was stupid? Come on, Obito-san… Itachi-san… help… a little… please?

"That's not what I meant." I replied shortly after, again, trying to keep the aggravation out of my tone.

-X-

I knew that that's not what she meant. That didn't explain why she was dripping water all over the floor, holding her hand out expectantly. What? Did she want me to take her inside and clean her up and put her in my bed and cover her in blankets because she realized that spiting each other was dumb?

"Look, Sasuke. You're leaving tomorrow morning." She started. I just stared back. Yeah? So what? What did that have anything to do with this "fight" or whatever it was, being "stupid"? Of course it's stupid, yeah. But honestly, I was enjoying it. I got to ruin and stain her door… forever. Because she made me think I had her shit on my hands and almost made me throw up alcohol and barbeque. These past few days have been filled with some of the most ass-retarded things I've ever done, but I enjoyed myself. She shook her head as if she didn't know how to put her next sentence into words.

"This turf war is stupid. Let's just call a truce, okay?" Even though it was a question, her tone was solid. It held no room for argument. I almost smirked. What game was she playing? Seriously?

"You _want_ a truce." I rephrased for her, because I wasn't an idiot. She was demanding and I wasn't going to give in. Why, when we've come so far? She frowned, and I could tell she was getting impatient, frustrated. Her body tensed just a little. It was miniscule, but I was trained to notice someone _think_ about farting if I had to, so I could tell.

"No Sasuke, I'm _asking_ for a truce, but if you want me to demand one, I can." She replied, a slightly exasperated hint to her voice and I had to think for a second. There was nothing but honesty in her expression. I frowned. She had played her cards well, but not well enough.

"Demand a truce, then." I shrugged, because I wasn't just going to accept a truce. Fuck that. She had started a war. A _war_. I wasn't just going to say, "okay we can end it if you want" no way.

-X-

He was being difficult.

"Fine, damn it." I snapped. I was cold, wet, shivering, and uncomfortable and I _still _had to clean my damn door! FINE. "I demand a truce, Uchiha Sasuke." I spat. Why was he being so fucking impossible!?

"Good, what will you trade me for one?" Now he was smirking. His eyes were _glittering_. He was _enjoying_ this... this game he was playing! Fucking _snake! _He was _out_ to get me mad. He existed solely for the purpose of pissing me off and making me suffer! Nothing else! I had had enough. I moved lightning-fast and pinned him against his doorway. He had expected the assault and held an arm out to keep me at bay. I still had a firm hand on his shoulder and was keeping it against the molding of his door. He glared at me. I glared at him. He was tensed up and ready to spring if necessary. I smirked at him and he narrowed his eyes.

-X-

She had pinned me, but I was expecting it. What did she think she was doing? If she thought she could fight me in this complex and expect things not to get destroyed she was mistaken. I watched on as she smirked at me, wryly. Then, I felt her cold hand grasp mine. I looked down, ignoring the bone-crushing weight she had applied to my shoulder with her strength, that was now starting to strain my collar bone. She shook my hand, or rather, forced me to shake her hand. I frowned.

Well, shit.

"It's a truce. It's over and done-with. I'm done fighting you, Sasuke." She said each statement slowly and I couldn't help but notice all the different flecks of green in her jade eyes and the way she spoke and said my name. Her eyes made me think of that asshole Yamanaka and it made me angry at her for believing that he'd treat her right. But that was a battle for another day… I had a mission coming up with the son of a bitch, anyway.

She was done fighting me. Okay. That much I understood. She slowly released me and I felt more relaxed, now that my shoulder wasn't in danger of being dislocated, or shattered. I felt confused however… if she was done fighting me then… what now? I looked down at her and this time, I _really _looked at her. She was small, lithe, but she had filled out in the right places these last four years. Her hair was longer but it was all shredded and messy at the ends, as if she didn't have time to cut it, which was probably true. Her face had narrowed and lost its childishness, but the biggest change was in her eyes. They had once been so adoring, so loving, so bright and filled with happiness. They were dimmed recently, no longer filled with the hope and promise that were in them before…

…And I _just_ noticed this _now_ because they were a little brighter at the moment. And for some reason, that little bit of light in her eyes made me feel… weird… like I had done something good. I felt uneasy at the thought of feeling good about doing something good, especially towards Sakura, so I spoke to run over the tension and oddity I felt with my voice.

"What now?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I don't hate you, you know." She said, in a matter-of-fact tone, and my eyes darted all over her face for more detail…

Yeah… She didn't hate me, that much was true, but she didn't completely love me either, as I expected her to. I searched further to see any hint of the adoration she had for me before. It wasn't there. She smiled at me the same way she smiled at Naruto. I think my stomach might have dropped a little. I didn't want to think about why.

"We could just be friends, for once." She continued and shrugged again. She felt stupid. I felt stupid too. I felt petulant and childish; like I wouldn't just settle for friendship. Why? Who the hell knows? Am I that selfish? This was Sakura for fuck's sake… _annoying _Sakura. What is wrong with me? "It's up to you. But this turf war's over." She finished.

And just like that she opened her door, walked in and shut it quietly behind her and I was the idiot left staring at the puddle on the floor and the tomatoes rotting away at her doorstep wondering…

What in the seventh ring of hell just happened?

-X-

Well, that went well, I guess? I suppose it went as well as it was going to go, so I shrugged and started taking off my clingy, wet clothes. I had made the effort I promised to make and I smiled to myself. That was good enough. That was a start. I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Kakashi-sensei had been right. Starting off with friendship would make things better. And even though Sasuke didn't answer me, I had still extended a hand to him and for once, it felt good to do something nice. Because this time around, I was actually being the better person and it felt awesome. It's like I had been cleansed of a plague that had slowly been eating me away for the last four years. I felt happy, but the best thing is… I felt in control of my happiness, which is what I needed this whole time. Silently humming to myself, I turned on the shower. I waited a few minutes and smiled when I realized Sasuke had cease-fired and didn't go to flush his toilet. Excited to not shiver and freeze any longer, I jumped in and closed the curtain behind me.

-X-

I sighed. Was this a joke? I half-suspected that maybe all of that was just a trick to make me not flush the toilet on her while she showered because she was cold, but there had been irrefutable sincerity in her eyes when she spoke. So, dejected, I decided to apologize in the only way I could. I grabbed a bucket, a sponge, a trashbag and some paper towels and got to work on her door…

Once the mess in the hall and on her door was clean I went back into my apartment and decided to read. I picked up a stupid book Kakashi had gotten me, titled "Wars Won". Thankfully, it had yet to have any smut in it. Honestly, if I wanted to beat it to something I'd just turn on the tv late at night or go find some magazine or even used my imagination or something. Regardless, it was mostly about the life of a ninja and how a man dealt with his loss. It was interesting. So I lay quietly on my bed, reading, wondering when Sakura would notice that I had cleaned her door…

-X-

After my early-evening shower I dressed in my usual nin pants, boots and v-neck and decided to clean my door. Surprised, I realized that Sasuke had laid down his pride and cleaned it for me. I had to smile at the door and honestly, I had to smile at his door too. Maybe we were friends, after all. I went out then to go shopping for food. It was getting late and I was hungry… Sasuke was probably hungry too…

It wouldn't hurt to make a celebratory dinner to commemorate our friendship would it?

-X-

It must have been evening when I heard the knocking.

Knock knock knock!

Ugh… what did Sakura want? I realized I had fallen asleep with the book on my stomach and frowned. I'd have to go back and re-read things again to fully understand them. I placed a small piece of paper to mark the spot I had finished off at and went to my door. I opened it, and there she stood, clean, dry and holding a pot to my nose, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Hungry?" She asked. "I bet it smells good, huh?" Then she winked confidently and waved the pot around. I rolled my eyes and closed the door behind me, gesturing for her to lead the way into her apartment. Once inside, I noted how it was clean, but there were a lot of places that had collected dust. Awkwardly, I sat at the round table as she put down bowls and the pot she was carrying earlier. This was a day I hadn't seen coming… the day that Sakura of all people cooked for me as I sat and waited at a table… I shook those weird thoughts from my head and focused on other things.

Curious, I lifted the lid and sneaked a peak. Beef stew. She had made a beef stew. I smirked. There was a lot of protein in it. I looked up and realized she was giving me a wry grin. She had made it that way on purpose, because the dish she had made me before needed more protein… Touché, Sakura… touché. She handed me a ladle and a spoon and I got to work, making sure to get as much steak and vegetables into the bowl as possible before ladling the broth over.

"You're leaving tomorrow." She started again and I looked up, now chewing on the perfectly-cooked meat in my mouth. I honestly almost didn't care what she was saying because the food was so good, but I wasn't Naruto, I was Sasuke, so I paid attention… to both her _and_ the food. "I know the mission will be hard if Tsunade-sama is sending four anbu out together, particularly two anbu who are adept at kinjutsu, like you and Yugao-san. Whatever happens, make sure you, Suchiru-san, Yugao-san and Tetsuo-san take care of each other, ne?" She was serious so I nodded, though I frowned at the thought of watching the Yamanaka's back. He didn't deserve her kindness, but then again, I didn't either. So I kept my mouth shut and continued eating. She poured herself some soup too and we ate in a silence that I have to say was rather comfortable.

-X-

After we ate… we, um, awkwardly, I suppose, cleaned up. I put the remainder of the soup into a plastic bowl and sealed it in a scroll, handing it to Sasuke if he got hungry on his mission. Oddly, he took it and sealed it into the white arm guards on his wrists. Then we did dishes. I washed, he dried. Everything was silent and a little surreal, but I didn't let that bother me. This was my childhood dream, but I refused to think about that. Tomorrow was Ino's birthday. I would have to go shopping for a killer outfit because Ino was obviously throwing a killer party. I rolled my eyes and sighed, forgetting Sasuke was even there.

"What?" His voice startled me, the deep baritone washing over my ears and I flinched, nearly dropping my plate. I exhaled to relax when I realized I wasn't in danger.

"Nothing; I was just thinking about Ino's party." I replied and continued washing the plate in hand. I rinsed it, turned off the faucet and handed it to Sasuke, who dried it with a dish rag and placed it in the cabinet above his head. He squeaked the cabinet shut. "I don't feel like dressing up; I just feel like drinking." I grinned and he shot me an amused smirk.

"So don't dress up." He shrugged and I realized that the shirt he was wearing was slightly battered. I frowned. He gave as much of a shit about his clothes as Naruto. I swear they're the same person, sometimes.

"I can't just _not _dress up." I Crossed my arms and he crossed his, leaning against my counter. He cocked an eyebrow and I smirked. "I still have to show off the fact that I'm just as sexy as Ino is, duh." I rolled my eyes as if _he_ were the stupid one and he gave me a deflated look. I glared at him, because he didn't take it seriously and punched him in the shoulder.

"Shut up, I can hear your condescending thoughts without you even saying them." I grinned and he gave me a stern look.

-X-

Condescending thoughts? Actually, if I were to just look at Sakura in a physical sense… yeah I'd fuck her. She was good-looking. She had grown into her forehead, as weird as that realization was to me, and her pink hair actually made her exotic in a perverted kind of way. She was small, and curvy and seemed to have just enough in the spots that counted. Even her eyes were large, green and could certainly be used to seduce if she wanted to (and by now I was sure she _had_ used them to get what she wanted out of a man) but that wasn't the point. I didn't say anything on the matter because she was my _friend_ and deserved respect. So I chose to move to show myself out. She followed me to the door, but I stopped and turned. I paused for a few seconds and contemplated on my sanity before I decided to ask anyway.

"Let's spar." I offered as I turned around. Her door still vaguely smelled like tomatoes and cleaning products; a fact to which I resisted the urge to smirk. I watched her delicate features morph into a small frown as she contemplated what I said.

"You're leaving tomorrow. It wouldn't do if I messed you up before an important mission. You think Tsunade-sama would take that lightly?" She cocked a brow and crossed her arms and I couldn't help but notice how her hip popped out, almost like with an attitude when she shifted her weight to her right foot. I smirked. She thinks she can mess me up? We'll see about that. The only living person that could thoroughly give me a run for my money was Naruto.

"I meant when I get back." Because I will come back. Even if someone managed to half-kill me I'd still drag myself back if only to prove to her that that Yamanaka is an asshole. I mean, I'm an asshole too, but at least that fact is out in the open, right? Her features relaxed and she seemed surprised for a moment, but then she smirked confidently.

"All right, Uchiha. You're on. When you get back we'll set up a time and place and I'll whip you around. Sounds good?" She spoke in a mock-sweet tone, as if making plans with her boy-toy. I was surprised for a moment; she could talk some shit. What happened to her over the years? This "new" Sakura that I'm not familiar with is an enigma and I actually think I kind of like it…

"Don't be so sure about 'whipping me around'." I replied, not one to be pushed over so easily.

"Well we'll see when it happens." She insisted and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, Sakura. Ja-ne."

And just like that I turned and let myself out, closing the door on her as she turned around to go do what it was she usually did at home. I stretched, popped my back in the hallway and decided to go pack my things. This mission was short. It was only a week long, but I've come to notice that the shorter the missions were, the more dangerous they were. We were to spend a week in a small border-country called Kan in between Sound and Rice. There were three groups of rebels in Kan. They were thinking of joining forces. They were a mafia of sorts and most of them were thieves, murderers and even rapists. Yugao, the tiger, was going to be our team captain.

I was rifling through my drawers and found the mask I was looking for. They had given me a cat, because cats were "just an Uchiha thing" like Naruto said. I smirked. The dobe remembered the dumbest things during the dumbest moments. I remembered how I had shoved him and frowned. Maybe I should go see if he's at his apartment.

-X-

And sure enough, Naruto was on his couch, drinking a soda. I ended up sitting next to him with a cup of tea that I made myself, watching a stupid civilian show with him like we often did when we initially came back from the war. There were a bunch of tricky obstacles that the civilians had to get through to win a cash prize. Ninjas weren't allowed and I could spot sensors in the crowd, watching and making sure no one used chakra. Some guy was trying to knock down a Daruma, piece by piece with a hammer without actually toppling the thing over. It was entertaining and we sat in silence for a while.

"So, you ready for the mission tomorrow?" Naruto asked, taking another swig from the glass soda bottle.

"Ah." I responded, not removing my eyes from the tv.

"You smell like beef stew." Naruto commented. Damn his heightened senses.

"Sakura made it." Because why should I hide that? He would know eventually, anyway

Pfffftshhhhhhhhhhfffff! He spat out his soda.

"N-Naniii!?"

I smirked at him. Idiot.

"Really?" He queried now, big blue eyes watery and hopeful in a comical way. I grunted.

"Yes, really. What's the big deal?" I asked, annoyed. Naruto went back to watching tv and shrugged and I could tell he was only acting like he didn't really care, but I let it slide.

"Nothing. Sakura-chan used to make me beef stew, before…" He trailed off and blushed. Wait a second. What the hell was going on?

"Before what?" I pressed, just barely keeping the impatience out of my tone, while pretending not to care.

"Before Hinata-chan starting looking out for me." He responded quietly and the dummy blushed like a genin. I smirked. Easy prey.

"Oh, before you started dating." I blurted loudly, purposefully.

"SHHHHHH TEME!" He smashed his hands against my mouth and as a result I accidentally spilled some lukewarm tea onto my crotch. Gross. It felt like pee.

"UghNaruto!" I pushed his face away with my hand to get him to let up.

"Don't say that too loud! Hinata-chan is a Hyuuga!" He hissed in a whisper. "It's not… I don't know, _normal_ for her to date outside of the clan. He relaxed and backed off and I grabbed a tissue out of the box on his coffee table to absorb the moisture from my pants.

"You mean customary?" I corrected him in a drawl.

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

I wondered if Naruto would ever marry Hinata. He had to grow the balls to ask her father for her hand someday. Otherwise, the man would just pick someone for her to marry. I came from a prestigious clan. I knew how those kinds of families operated too well. I wonder if everyone was still alive… would I have been pushed to marry some Uchiha girl? I frowned at the idea of marrying someone with hair and eyes as dark as mine. Meh. Not enough difference in appearance for me to be attracted. I liked differently colored eyes. I realized then that every woman that I had ever slept with had some sort of candy-colored irises.

"You should tell her father that she's yours." I suddenly spoke, without checking myself first. Whatever, the words were true and they were out. It was the best advice I could give him, as a brother to another brother.

"Tch. I think if I become hokage first it will make a better impression." Naruto grumbled in a political tone.

What an idiot. He was a hero. He saved the shinobi world and brought every country together and was viewed world-_wide_ as a symbol of peace. What did he need the title of hokage for anymore anyway? He definitely didn't need it to marry the person he loves.

"You've accomplished enough. Just go and claim her before Hiashi forgets everything you've done for this world." I pushed, only because Naruto was pissing me off. He was putting himself down, technically letting on that he wasn't good enough just yet. What an _idiot_.

"I will but not yet."

I stood up then. Whatever, if he wanted to just stay one step away from everything he could have ever wanted or needed as a man, he could. It wasn't my business. I washed my glass and placed it in the cabinet above his sink and glared at the big wet spot on my pants. Thankfully, my pants were black so the spot wouldn't be as noticeable in the dark.

"Be safe on your mission, teme." Naruto called as I let out an affirmative grunt and showed myself out.

-X-

Once back in the apartment complex, I sensed someone on our floor. Yes, _our _floor, because Sakura and I now _shared _it, even though it was mine to begin-with. I stealthily glided up the stairs, as silent as a wraith and listened at the corner. Who was up here and why?

*knock knock knock*

Okay someone was visiting Sakura. They were obvious. No one was sneaking around, other than me. I relaxed and walked down the hall. The stranger I saw though, pissed me off. It was that Yamanaka asshole… I kept my face neutral. I didn't want him to know he was stoking the hell in my core that I liked to refer to as my "anger issues". The therapists hadn't prepared me for shit like this, so I just nodded at him and he waved with a grin… because that _asshole _would be happy about going to flirt with _Sakura_ at her _apartment_ like a fucking _stalker_.

Sakura answered the door and beamed at him like he was the sun and she had just been in a dark valley full of I don't know, bugs or whatever she was afraid of. Again, that burning in my stomach returned. Stop being such a damn idiot, Sakura…

"Ah, Suchiru-san. How are you? Just then, she heard me unlocking my door. Ah, Sasuke, you're back! You should be resting before your mission!" She was chastising me, out of worry for my health and well-being of course, but whatever. I was pissed and her concern was lost on me at that point.

"Hn." I couldn't help but take my anger out on her. I also couldn't help but notice she didn't seem to care. One raised pink brow was all I got in response. I shut my door as calmly as possible, and pretended to move about my apartment.

"Oi, I was just wondering if I could give you my present to give to Ino for me. I'm afraid most of my family is busy preparing the grand hall for her party, so they might forget." The asshole Yamanaka laughed, as if this whole little visit _wasn't _purposefully and carefully plotted out. Don't think you're so great. I know what you're doing…_dick_. I glared holes at the wall where I heard his voice coming from.

Sakura laughed. Ugh, _why_ in _hell _was she laughing?

"Oh okay, come on in and have some tea while you're here, then. I need to get the other gifts out of their hiding spot." She said in a confident, playful tone and I could tell she had winked at him. That hell in me that I was talking about before? It was blazing right now. Stop being so stupid, Sakura!

-X-

At a loss of what to do, because I was caught off-guard, I invited Suchiru in. He had come all the way to my apartment from the Yamanaka compound, after all, and it was a long trip. I set the teapot on the stove and turned the gas on.

"Sit there, I'll be right back." I took the small blue gift box from his hands as he sat at my kitchen table. Nervously, I walked into my bedroom and threw the full-sized mattress up against the wall, silently and single-handedly. Beneath, on the wooden box spring, was a secret storage seal that required my blood to unlock. I quickly bit my finger, smeared the blood on the seal, applied chakra and watched the seal eat up the blood. Poof. There was the box. I put his gift for Ino into the larger box next to the other gifts from myself, Sai and Naruto and resealed it, putting my mattress back into place.

When I came back I noticed Suchiru-san was smiling at the pictures in my living room. I crossed my arms.

"How did you become an anbu if you can't follow orders?" I queried with a smirk. Suchiru-san looked surprised and blushed. He laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, I've always had a bad streak of curiosity." He excused and made his way back over to the kitchen.

"Ah, so you're a nosy anbu." I grinned just as the tea kettle started to wail. I reached up to grab the tea set that Sasuke had annoyingly put on the highest shelf, because he was tall and he could. I got up on my toes and reached the glass tray the white and pink cups were sitting up-side-down on. I swiftly pulled the tray back, but I was too short and the angle was all off and I started to tip backwards.

"Wh-whoaaa!" A strong, supportive hand was at my back immediately, the other on the tray that would have fallen and collided with the floor. Suchiru smiled as he raised both of his hands to pick up the tray and set it down on the counter.

"Th-thanks." I stammered. My face was probably beet red. That would have been embarrassing if he hadn't helped out.

-X-

I gazed dumbly at the wall. Was I stupid? I was. I had gone dumb, and I had gone crazy, definitely. First, I put Sakura's tea set away on the highest shelf. That would have been no big deal, but it gave that _stupid _Yamanaka the opportunity to look cool. Thus, I was an idiot and that Yamanaka was the spectator pointing and laughing at me. If at all possible, I must have glared harder at the wall. My sharingan activated and I could see the two chakras behind the wall. They must be sitting at her kitchen table.

… I was still aggravated… I don't know why. I should just stop listening to the lies coming from the blonde's mouth… but I couldn't… And thus… I was crazy…

-X-

"Mmm Jasmine with a hint of honey." Suchiru-san smiled.

"It's good for sleeping." I commented. "You guys must have one hell of a mission tomorrow if there's four of you going."

"Ah yes. But it shouldn't be too hard." He shrugged as I sipped on my tea.

"Did you pack all of your things?" I asked in an effort to keep the silence at bay.

"Of course."

"Mhm…" I had gotten shitty at flirting. When was the last time I dated someone? It was months ago. Some dummy from lightning… Ugh.

"Where do you want to go when I get back?" He asked, picking up the conversation for me before sipping his tea.

I almost spat out my tea in shock. He was a surprising one, for sure. I forgot he did that. Jeez, what an up-front guy… I pretended to clear my throat as I reigned in my surprise. My cheeks were red, my face felt hot. I hate that he could do that to me.

"I don't know. Surprise me." I smirked. I like playing games too, Suchiru. Don't forget that.

"Ah, so this is a test." He smirked beautifully back.

I grinned. Maybe it was a test. I shrugged as a response.

"Who knows? But the date better be good." I left him hanging around with that exploding tag. 'Serves him right for shocking the hell out of me three times in one day.

"Well, how about you tell me about the things you like and the places you haven't been to yet? I could just cook something up, of course, but I'd rather make the night special for you." He smiled genuinely and I couldn't help but genuinely answer him…

"I like…"

What did I like? I didn't even know. I frowned for a moment before I thought of my duties as a medic.

"I like to read and train and save people. I like to be productive." It was as good as my answer was going to get. It didn't give out any obvious options for a night out, but it was honest and it would do.

"Ah, that's quite a 'different' answer. Most kunoichi say they like to be treated as equals." Suchiru smiled.

I stared dumbly at him. Really? There was still sexism like that against kunoichi? Then again, I'm Haruno Sakura. No one was sexist against me because they knew I could take on a hundred men and not break a sweat. I had earned a reputation for taking out Sasori of the Red Sand and so, people feared me. Men feared me. Men didn't even question me after the war.

"Ah, but of course you must be treated differently. You're infamous for your strength." He smiled. "That's a good thing." He then added, to make sure he wasn't offending me, which he wasn't because I had come to the same conclusion anyway.

"Well… yeah… I guess. You're not afraid of me like the rest of them, are you?" I grinned, poking fun and he laughed.

"No, of course not." But he genuinely meant it. His smile was sincere so I smiled back.

"Anyway, I don't think I've ever been to…" I smirked… it was my turn to surprise him. "…A Kirigakure nightclub. I heard they're insane." I deadpanned.

"Ah, so you like the electronic music?" He cocked a blonde brow and I laughed at his surprised expression.

"Sometimes." I replied honestly.

"Hmmm…. Maybe we can get Ino to come too." He grinned evilly and I suddenly knew why. I gasped.

"You know Sai would feel weird going! He's so introverted…kind-of!" I reached over and smacked his forearm and he laughed.

"But you know it would be funny to see his reaction. I'd just like to see him get mad at Ino's drunk antics."

"Oh trust me, you don't want to see Sai mad… But yes, we'll see if Ino wants to go. Maybe Sai will want to go to, just to see what it's like." I shrugged and Suchiru nodded. Just then he downed the rest of his tea and stretched, allowing me full view of his perfectly toned and flat stomach, and tightly muscled arms.

"Well, early to sleep, early to rise, or whatever, right?" He grinned and got up. "Thanks in advance for delivering my gift."

"Of course. It's not a big deal." I sat up and walked him to the door, opening the entranceway to step out in the hall. He followed me, slipping his shoes on right before he stepped out.

"Ne, Sakura-san?"

"Hm?" I looked up as I watched him step out and in front of me. What was he doing? He stood and smiled at me.

"You're beautiful." He spoke softly. And my heart started hammering. I had been called hot. I had been called sexy. I had been called many things; but no one had ever called me beautiful, not while looking through my eyes and into my soul the way Suchiru just did… "Goodnight." And he bowed and left me blushing, staring dumbly at his back until he disappeared. What? Did that just happen? I put my clammy hands onto my burning cheeks. Suddenly, I was playfully peeved because I knew he said that on purpose to take me off guard. He seemed to like to do that in subtle ways. Cute jerk. That was the fourth time he surprised me today! I turned around and shut my door, content on cleaning up and going to bed.

-X-

"Ne, Sakura-san?" Just leave already. Why won't he just go?

"Hm?" That was her 'I wasn't exactly paying attention' tone. Good. Don't pay attention to him. He's playing you, Sakura.

Yep. I was insane, all right. It ran in the family to prove it, too. Here I was, listening to Sakura's every word with this guy… listening to the entire conversation like some sort of obsessive madman... alone… in my stupid apartment… This was pathetic… What would Itachi do?

Itachi was smart. Itachi would saunter over and _make _the guy look like an idiot. But I wasn't Itachi. I was Sasuke. And I was too pissed and surprised to really do anything but listen. I felt like I was seven again, unable to stop something that I wanted to prevent from happening. Unable, because I was powerless… because Sakura didn't think or care about me like that anymore. I was… I was in the friend-zone… deep in it. That's what it's called right? When a girl thinks about you as just a friend… I thought back to the time I was stuck in Naruto's apartment all day because of probation. We had watched tv— all kinds of shows, really— and the one guy in the drama had gotten what Naruto called, "friend-zoned" by the woman he wanted to be with.

The only difference here was… probably that I don't want to be with Sakura anyway. At least I don't _think_ I want to be with her… Whatever, I just don't exactly want her to be with that Yamanaka asshole, either. She deserved better. She was an esteemed kunoichi in almost every country I went on missions to. Why the hell was she _settling_ for some Yamanaka asshole with a pretty face and my brother's voicebox? She was _Haruno Sakura_ for fuck's sake! Did she not understand how much respect people had for her?

"You're beautiful." He said to her in a romantic tone that echoed sincerity.

A pause.

…That… that son of a bitch… she was eating right out of his grubby Yamanaka hands. I just knew it. I could practically _feel_ Sakura blushing. I grabbed a piece of my bangs out of frustration and pulled. What the hell was wrong with her? Couldn't she see through his bullshit?

"Goodnight."

She didn't say anything the entire time that he walked away. I was about to walk out there and shake her out of her stupor when I finally heard her footsteps move back into her apartment. I was so frustrated I wanted to take something beautiful and just _chidori_ it to death. Was… was Kakashi still awake? It was only eight-thirty and I doubt my stupid sensei has anything better to do right now. So I slid open my window and disappeared as Sakura began washing her dishes.

-X-

After a half hour of looking, I tracked down Kakashi. He had been avoiding me, but decided to stop because I refused to give up.

"What?" He appeared on a swing in the silent, still park, sounding annoyed that I "interrupted" whatever he was doing. I sat on the swing next to him, actually I was frustrated so I technically threw myself onto it, not caring if it would break under my weight.

"You have to do something." I began, because I was beyond saving at that point and he looked at me with a confused expression on his face.

"Are you sick?" He questioned and I wanted to punch his one eye in.

"No." I grit out quickly. "But you have to keep this guy away from Sakura." I explained in more detail this time.

"Why? Do you want her for yourself?" He shot back.

What? No. That was crazy.

"No, but I don't want to see a friend be toyed with." I responded calmly…too calmly. Kakashi picked up on my uneasiness.

"You don't understand why you care." He pointed out, calling me out on my bullshit.

"Not really." I wasn't trying to hide anything anyway and he was right. Kakashi sighed.

"Well, what makes you think Sakura is the one being toyed with? How do you know she's not toying with him?" He asked and I was glad he had changed the subject.

But what. What did he say? How did I know Sakura was being toyed with? Tch. That was stupid to ask. It was obvious…

"Because he's going to her and catching her off guard." Because he was. He was doing unexpected things and catching her by surprise with textbook fucking romance and it was sickening because I know he was just banking on her emotional reactions. All he wanted was sex. Why was I the only one seeing it this way?

Aaaaaand….Kakashi laughed at me. For the first time in my Twenty-one years of life, Kakashi-sensei all-out _laughed at me_. He might as well have pointed at me too. I glared holes through him. What was so funny?

"Sasuke…" He chuckled again. I wish he'd stop. It was weird seeing Kakashi laugh while sober. He almost never did it. "He's 'catching her off guard'? You make it seem like romance is a full-blown nin-battle or a game of shogi or something."

I could hear myself growling. I smashed my palm into my face and rubbed my skin out of frustration.

"You know what I mean. He's being fake to her so he can just fuck her, Kakashi. I'm not an idiot. I see it." Maybe blatantly explaining it would work better.

"So do something about it, if you think she's in trouble, Sasuke."

"Why don't _you _do something about it!" I snapped. Why did it always have to come back to me? I already tried and she practically snapped my arm in two!

"You're her friend." He replied easily, unruffled by my uncalled-for outburst.

"And you're practically her father. You know her better. You do it." I grit back, arms crossed to accentuate my point.

"No. Because I honestly think Sakura may be the one puppeteering the poor fellow." Kakashi responded with his dumb theory.

"That's stupid." I childishly fought back. "Sakura isn't the type to manipulate and machinate."

"But neither is Naruto and look what he did to the both of you." Kakashi pointed out and I opened my mouth, but shut it quickly, because the rebuttal to his statement wasn't going to be intelligent.

I was struck dumb, because he was right. I didn't know Sakura as well as I thought I knew her. I was surprised to realize that she didn't have feelings for me and I was surprised now realizing that she might know how to manipulate men... better than any woman I'd seen so far.

I remained quiet, but Kakashi spoke anyway thankfully filling the silence and chasing away the awkwardness I felt.

"I think she's ignoring him to make him run after her." Kakashi shrugged as he expanded on his theory. But somewhere I knew he was wrong. He wasn't there when it happened. Sakura was genuinely surprised at the door. I knew when she was surprised. I had seen her surprised before. The expressions that were unique to her hadn't changed since she was twelve. Surprise was hard to fake and she _wasn't _faking it. I glared at the dirt beneath my feet. Kakashi was going to be useless.

"You don't think Naruto hasn't threatened to beat up a few of her boyfriends in the last four years, Sasuke?" Kakashi queried and I gave him a perplexed look. What did that have to do with anything? "I mean, you shouldn't feel strange about caring. Naruto cares too. But trust me when I say she doesn't want either of you protecting her anymore. Let her handle it herself. She'll get offended if you step in. Naruto got the lights punched out of him last time he did that."

O…kay? I didn't respond. That was reasonable, I suppose. Sakura had gotten mad and nearly broke my arm when I tried to help… so maybe… maybe I _was_ being an overprotective teammate… I grimaced at the title I had given myself…

"Trust me, his shirts weren't nearly as bright the entire day it took for him to recover. Sakura literally punched the sunshine out of him." Kakashi elaborated in an effort to ease the tension I was feeling.

And I smirked. Because _of course_ she would knock the sunshine out of Naruto. That was _Sakura_.

-X-

I decided to stop there, because I feel like it. Always review! Don't worry, I don't usually respond, so you don't have to worry about me bugging you guys or anything. I really just want to know your opinions and I want to know if I'm doing it right. Lol

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ™ All rights reserved (whatever that means) and I don't make any money off of this as it is purely fan-based.

See 'ya Later, Space Cowboy!


	4. My Silence and Guilt

KISEKI

|4|

Okay, so I'll openly admit that I didn't know where I wanted to go with this story when I first started writing it, but now I have a definitive goal and I'm excited to get there. Like _really _excited. I'll be combining this story with another Naruto fiction I wrote long, _long_ ago that didn't really go anywhere even though it was a great core idea so hopefully this fiction will not just be funny and romantic, it'll be adventurous and plot-twisty too.

Anyway, enjoy!

-X-

After a tossy-turny night, I heard Sasuke get up and move about his morning routine at around four. He got up, did his business, showered, dried, and dressed. I yawned, listened to the musical "Sounds of Sasuke" in fascination, and grimaced at the nastiness I tasted in my mouth. Bleh. I wanted to say goodbye, but I was in no way, shape or form presentable, so when I heard Sasuke slide open his window, I knocked on my bedroom wall twice.

*knock* … *knock*

For "good" and "bye".

-X-

I had just finished slipping on my gear. My hair was still wet from my shower, trickling tiny, cold droplets down my neck and back. I fished Itachi's necklace out of my drawer and locked it around my neck. I had everything. Kusanagi was on my back where it belonged, my storage seals were filled with food, Sakura's soup, and weapons, _and _I had a kunai pouch filled with three different sets of kunai on my thigh. I was as ready as I was going to be. I slipped my mask on and slid open the window.

But just then…

*knock*… *knock*…

I smirked. It was as if Sakura was wishing me luck. She hadn't slept well that night, and honestly, because she hadn't, neither had I. I could hear her mumbling stuff in her sleep all night. I was mildly annoyed, but found it slightly amusing that she'd have the gall to rub it in my face that she was still lying comfortably in bed, almost _lazily _knocking on her wall, when I had a grueling mission to accomplish. I paced over to the wall anyway, intent on not starting another war, kneeled on my mattress and knocked back.

*Knock*… *knock*…

I hoped she understood the 'thank you' and slipped out, shutting the window behind me as I stuck my feet to the outer wall and launched off. Once I hit the ground I was running top speed to the meeting point even though I was early. If I was lucky, maybe I'd get to take a short nap while waiting for the others to arrive.

-X-

I smiled at the wall. Sasuke had knocked back, even though I thought he would just ignore me. What had Naruto done over the years to improve his crabbiness? I grinned as I thought of Naruto testing Sasuke's patience day in and day out while Sasuke's chakra was restrained. It's too bad I wasn't there to see it. I frowned then. Maybe avoiding them was a mistake these last four years? How much time have I wasted...? Any one of us could have died in those four years and we would have never gotten the chance to eat together again.

On that thought, I decided that as soon as Sasuke was getting back, I was going to go have lunch with him, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. Nodding at the wall in determination, I shut my eyes to get just a little bit of extra sleep before I had to go run around and find a suitable outfit to wear for Ino's party tonight.

Speaking of which, that's going to be _hell_…

-X-

And so…. There I was four hours later… at the boutique looking for a sexy kimono, my hair freshly trimmed and maintained. Thankfully, I didn't have to lose a lot of length. In my ignorance, my hair had grown and I kind of liked the way it was looking. Who cares if it's not as shiny as when I was little, right? Anyway, the lady at the kimono shop was really nice. She was a chubby obaa-san who sent her grand-daughter (who was thankfully my age) to help me pick out a kimono.

"I think something red and white will look best." She spoke once she got a good look at my weird pink hair and made a face. Her hair was a billowy, _normal_ brown and she had attractive stone-grey eyes. She wasn't muscular, but she was thin and fragile-looking. Sometimes I wished I had a normal color scheme. Girls like this made me feel like a weirdo...

"Ne, Sakura-san?" She questioned almost bashfully as she picked up a kimono off of the wall and motioned for me to follow her to the fitting area.

"Hai?" I responded, watching her open the curtain and motion for me to get undressed. I pulled off my shirt as she cleared her throat.

"How do you… um… you know… be a kunoichi with such vibrant hair? Masato, my brother, says that vibrant colors attract attention when you're trying to hide…" Before I could respond she gaped and started sputtering, red in the face. "I mean, please don't take my question with offense! I didn't mean to be rude, I only meant that it's actually a serious question and—

I laughed hard. She actually reminded me of Hinata a little and I smiled at the memory of my Hyuuga friend.

"No, no Ami-san. It's all right. Sometimes I wear a wig, but other times the color helps me. Iryo-nin are very adept at dodging. It would be better for an enemy to attack me first, since there's a smaller chance of them actually hitting me." I smiled and responded and she grinned widely back.

"That's amazing. I always dreamed of being a kunoichi!" She revealed. Interesting.

"Maybe you should try being a nurse at the hospital. If you're any good at chakra control they'll start teaching you right away. Tsunade-sama would be happy to have another nurse." I smiled and offered as she began wrapping the red kimono with white Sakura patterns around my body. The kimono was sexy and modern. Its sleeves were wide, but they weren't as billowy and distracting as traditional kimono sleeves. Its length stopped right at my knees and the split on the side rode about halfway up my thigh. Since it was modest and demure up top, it made my breasts look bigger than they actually were. I smiled at what I saw in the mirror. It was perfect. Ami-san was a kimono-genius.

"Maybe if I have some time in between running the store with Oba-san and helping Masato with the farm… In any case, this looks beautiful on you! I thought it was fitting since you can move in it. It _will_ be a mostly shinobi crowd, correct?" Ami queried and I nodded.

"Yeah, actually. You're pretty sharp, Ami-san; this was a genius idea." I complemented and she blushed deeply. Ah, she had even bigger confidence issues than Hinata had. Maybe that's why she never pursued her dreams of being a kunoichi... I bowed to her and said I'd take it and any accessories she'd be willing to suggest.

After more comfortable conversation, I paid for the kimono, a long, silky ribbon, some hair accessories and jewelry and left. I wanted to squeeze in a shift at the hospital, but I knew that that wouldn't be beneficial tonight. If I wanted to look good, I would have to practice doing my newly-trimmed hair, which was going to suck because I was about as good at doing hair as a demon was at being good...

-X-

Nine hours later, I still couldn't get my hair the way I wanted it. Sick of washing and drying it over and over, I decided that it was time to visit TenTen. She would never tell you because she's so tom-boyish, but after pinning her own hair up for many years she was a hair-master. So, I grabbed my little draw-string bag, pinned it to the inside of my sleeve, put a very light bit of makeup on and headed out to her house. I knocked on the door twice, oogling the size of the place. Ten-Ten's family owned a weapon's shop in the heart of Konoha's market. Clearly, they'd made a lot of money over the years… Thankfully, Ten-Ten answered the door, her hair down and straight, her bangs swept to the side, brown eyes accented with gold shadow and dressed in a pretty, green kimono with beige poppies stitched into it. I smiled at her.

"Oi Ten-ten!"

"Sakura!" She smiled, and then looked at my messy hair. I don't even know how I managed to walk here with confidence to tell you the truth. I probably looked like a mess. "Need help?" She grinned, knowingly and I laughed. Yes, I was going to need _a lot _of help…

"You know it."

"Come on in." She ushered me past her and shut the door. In her living room, Lee was doing push-ups.

"Sakura! You're looking youthful and beautiful!" He complemented, but continued his work, even though he was in a relatively fancy foreign fighting outfit colored green. Lee had taken to growing his hair, in honor of Neji. It was now smooth and flowing down his back. His bangs were wispy, long and he kept them out of his face with his hitai-ate.

"Thank you, Lee." I said softly. I hadn't forgotten that I didn't save Neji in time… that the diamond seal on my forehead hadn't been ready until about fifteen minutes after his death. His beautiful face still haunted me in my sleep. It still hurt me personally that I was still so useless after so much training. It should have been me dead on that tree branch, not Neji. I think kami-sama only let me live because I was needed to save Naruto. And for those of you confused, that was not meant in a selfish way; it was the least I could do to just _start _on atoning for Neji. Ten-Ten had been speaking on her way upstairs to her bedroom, but I hadn't exactly been listening, lost in my thoughts of their late teammate.

"Sakura? Are you all right…?"

"What? Um yeah, I'm just really tired. I don't sleep very well." Well, I'm an idiot. "Sorry." The apology was lame but Ten-Ten laughed it off anyway. Good Kami-sama she's a strong person. I'd be locked up in a looney bin if I ever lost Naruto, Sasuke, Sai or Kakashi-sensei. I entered her room, filled with posters of singers and weapons and sat at her wooden vanity. I pulled all of the little accessories out of the drawstring bag on my sleeve and set them on the table. I put the long, dangling bone earrings in my ears as she combed my head up into a perfect bun on my head and only needed a pin or two to do it. Amazing. I watched the mirror in fascination as she pinned the red and gold combs into the bun and stuck a few red sakura hair-charms into the side of my head. She pushed my bangs over to the side and boom, just like that, I was done.

I hadn't realized that all that had actually taken about an hour since I had really screwed up the way my hair was laying before. But still, Ten-Ten had smiled the whole way through and it was time to go.

-X-

The grand hall of the Yamanaka compound was open-air and looked like a festival with Ino sitting on an ornate wooden chair atop a large, colorful platform. Gifts were almost flowing over the table at the bottom of the platform, In front of Ino. Smirking, I took the tiny scroll out of my little drawstring baggie and unsealed the four gifts for her. I carefully placed each gift onto the table and climbed the stairs to meet Ino. She was smiling widely at me the whole time, dressed in a beautiful white and purple traditional kimono. She had traditional hair accessories and even wore the traditional wooden sandals and ribbon that went with the whole outfit. She looked like a princess from a period movie. Even her hair was intricately done, rather than being up in its usual ponytail. I felt rugged next to her in my tall black nin boots and arm guards, but at least I looked like a sexy, dangerous kunoichi.

"Good Evening, hime-san. Haruno Sakura at you service." I joked playfully and bowed. Ino slapped my shoulder and pulled me in for a hug.

"Shut up Sakura, you're not _supposed _to look any better than me on _my _birthday, y'know? Even though you could." She winked and I smiled broadly back. Ino must be in a good mood to be throwing complements around.

"Where's the sake and where are the boys?" I asked, ready to start drinking people under the table. Parties weren't exactly my thing. They were only my thing during missions and when I wasn't known by anyone. Other than that, the bar was where I belonged.

"Sakura! You're no better than Tsunade-sama!" Ino glowered. "Speaking of which, she's been asking for you. She says she needs someone who can drink on her level. The bar is back that way."

Ino gestured with her thumb behind her and I smiled, hugging her again.

"The dancing will start soon, you know." She placed a fist at her hip when I paled. I didn't dance. Not with people I knew. With a stranger? Sure, no problem, but not around people I knew.

"Ino!" Suddenly, Temari flung herself past me and onto Ino, and I heard a dejected Shikamaru sigh behind me. I turned to smile at the Nara, silently thanking him and his girlfriend for saving me from raining on Ino's dance party. Wow, Shikamaru looked so much older. I hadn't seen him in a while and I almost gasped— was that _actually _facial hair growing on his chin!?

"Shikamaru." I greeted demurely.

"Yo, Sakura. Did you see Naruto or Choji anywhere?"

Ino glowered over Temari's shoulder and let the Suna kunoichi go.

"Those two are having a ramen-eating contest. Once they heard Teuchi-san was cooking for my party they lost it and ran. I'd never seen either of them move so quickly in my life!" Ino complained. Temari snickered, looking sexy in a black, foreign dress with a red dragon pattern on it. Shikamaru looked bland in grey hakama and a white tunic, but that was his thing. I took their conversation as a chance to slip behind Shikamaru and hopped over the platform. Hastily, I made my way to the bar past beautiful dancers on a stage, moving their bodies in perfect sync to the traditional music playing in the background. Not stopping to watch them, I kept going, passing all sorts of food and game stands until I reached what I found: a huge, open bar with a small dance area in front of it playing up-beat music. I saw my pig-tailed shisho and ran to her. Once I was seated next to her, she clapped me once on the back and started pouring sake into a rather large cup that she seemed to already have ready and waiting for me. Only a few chairs were filled at the far end of the bar, and three guys were passed out on the floor next to Tsunade-sama's bar stool.

"Ah Sakura, finally." She greeted with red cheeks and an easy smile. I had to smile back at her. She had really relaxed after the war. Naruto was like a son to her and I could tell she enjoyed having him around, helping her with the work and the decisions that needed to be made for the village.

"Yes, finally." I responded and then grinned at the alcohol. My goal tonight was to get so smashed I wouldn't see the faces in my dreams. I wouldn't see the blood and I wouldn't see the violence or have any other nightmare related to my guilt or my imagination.

-X-

A few hours later, I was decently tranquilized and Naruto came to sit with me, Hinata at his arm, gazing dreamily up at him as he spoke in soft, romantic tones. They greeted me, and asked about Tsunade-sama.

"She left. 'Village to run. You know." I replied shortly. I wasn't really open to talking; not when I was this far gone. I just wanted to be stupid. I grinned, deciding I'd forgive Naruto for what he'd done because it turned out for the better anyway.

"We should set Kakashi-sensei's mask on fire when we find him." It was an evil idea but it was great and sounded even better as it came out of my mouth. Naruto looked horrified at first, but then he remembered that this was a festival and he should be having fun because he's young and he _can_.

"_Or _we can get him so drunk he'll pass out and _then _we can take it off of him, take pictures and use them for blackmail!" _There_ was the Naruto I knew!

"Yes or we can do that. But knowing him, he'll still probably kawarimi even if he's passed out drunk!" I grimaced, but it was true! Kakashi-sensei was just like that. He never let you get him. Ever. Sasuke never let you get him either… except… and here I started laughing madly because Naruto would find it funny...

"You wanna know what I did to Sasuke?" I smirked, devilishly. Naruto looked shocked, but chuckled and even Hinata, now two drinks in, leaned over to listen, her big boobs squishing against the bar. I was jealous of those boobs. I glared at them and she blushed. They were HUGE even in her kimono!

"Hinata… I glowered. Why don't you share with the rest of us depraved girls?" I reached over and poked her boob and she blushed and tried to stutter something in response. Naruto came to the rescue and spoke instead.

"S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto chastised, then he punched me square in the shoulder and I cackled, remembering what I was about to say. Something about Sasuke? Right! OH right!

"Anyway, I smeared icing all over Sasuke's doorknob. He thought it was my crap."

And Naruto burst into a fit of laughter, Hinata chuckling away with him.

"What made you do that?" Hinata asked, curiously.

"He flushed the toilet and made my water cold while I was showering." I smiled at the memory; I didn't know why.

"What why? Teme's not _that _funny. He's still alive, too?" Naruto responded, disbelieving.

"I don't remember why." Because I really didn't. Everything was becoming fuzzy and unclear, but the room wasn't spinning or twitching yet. Good. I was still good to go. I tapped the bar in front of my bottle of sake and the faceless bartender cleared it away, pulling out another one, commenting on how "shinobi sure could drink". I smirked at that. Yes, yes we could. We were _great _at drinking; at least I was. I started to sip right from the uncorked, warmed bottle that was placed in front of me. Yummmm…. Neji, Shikaku-san, Inoichi-san, Obito-san, Itachi-san… they all disappeared and the guilt that usually weighed on my shoulders started to evaporate. Beautiful. Who were those people again? What were their names? I couldn't remember. All I could think about was the awesome date I was going to have in a week or so. Should I drink for a whole week straight until then? _Can_ I drink for a whole week straight and survive with Iryo-ninjutsu? Probably. It could be done. Wait a sec, Naruto was saying something.

"Sakura-chan?"

"What?" I responded dumbly and sipped more. Naruto's eyes were _so_ blue. I was an idiot. Naruto had grown to be a fine man and a great shinobi. I was such an idiot for not seeing that sooner. I was always an idiot. I'm still an idiot. Hinata was probably the smartest, prettiest and awesomest kunoichi in the world and here I was, dumb Haruno Sakura, only good for running hospitals and organization. Hah! What a joke, I am. I couldn't even save… who again? …Oh right, Naruto's saying something…

"I _said _when Sasuke-teme gets back from his mission we should go have ramen together!" He shouted loud enough for the other patrons to hear over the sound of the music and cheer. A few heads turned and looked but most recognized the voice and chose to let it be, favoring their own business instead.

"I'm not deaf Naruto, I'm just drunk." I laughed about admitting to being drunk. Haha! I was _so_ drunk. Wait, what was he asking about? Oh right. Focus, Sakura. Ramen with him and Sasuke. A mild bit of panic hit me and I remembered that I was avoiding that, but then I remembered that I wasn't avoiding it anymore and so I nodded happily and agreed.

"Sure we can have ramen when Sasuke gets back." I responded. My body was starting to feel deliciously numb.

"Is it a promise?" He asked, a bit of an edge to his voice.

"Yeah sure." Because me and Sasuke were friends, right? We were all friends again, right? So why _not _do things that friends do, right? Whatever I was going on a date. Who was it with again? Blond hair, green eyes. Similar to Ino… Oh right! _Steel_. Suchiru. I wonder if he's any good as a shinobi. He must be if he's anbu, right? But is he like, strong enough to compete with Naruto or Sasuke? Who knows? Actually, who cares. He's hot. That's good enough. If he's nice he can stay, if he's an asshole I'll just kick him to the curb and apologize to Ino later. Whatever. I had a date.

They were saying something again. What?

"— So I'll see you in about a week okay?" Naruto's hand was on my shoulder. When did that happen?

"Hu— all right." I responded before asking what he was saying again. I didn't want to seem rude. Hinata gave me a quick hug and despite my envy for her I hugged her anyway. She had a beautiful heart, one that I should strive to model mine after. Actually, I loved Hinata. She worked so hard! She deserved all of the beauty and good in her life. Jeez, what was I talking about before? Something negative? Ah who cares. … … … I get to look sexy on my date in a week. I grinned at Hinata and watched her leave.

Next, I was visited by Sai. By then, I was drunk enough to start hanging all over him. I had him in half a headlock that I wanted to say was a hug but it was sloppy.

"You know, you know, Sai!" I laughed, as he tried to drink his sake with me jerking him around. I couldn't stop laughing because I was _so _stupid back then, and now. I'm so stupid now too. "When you first showed up." I cracked up again, my one arm was _still _slung over him as he was sipping his own _very _large bottle of sake. "I seriously for a second thought that you were Sasuke because your hair and your eyes are so friggin' _Sasuke_. But you know what? Fuck it! You turned out to be so awesome!" Yep. I didn't really know where I was going with that… but who cares! I have an awesome friend and teammate!

"Mm you too Sakura. I thought you were a bitch and you reminded me of this girl I used to train with."

I laughed because I _was_ a total bitch to Sai when we first met. I was a total bitch _around _Sai when we first met.

"Ah man, I was such a bitch. I think I still am." Again I laughed because who the hell cared if I was a bitch? No one. No one gave a shit. Not even my parents. My mom was pregnant again and they were focusing on opening up hotels all over fire country. No one was around to care and it was _great_.

"I don't think you're a bitch." Sai laughed. "I think you're a man. You drink like one." He placidly commented. He was absolutely right. Sometimes I thought I was a man too. And here we laughed together as I was still hugging him. I rubbed his scalp with my knuckles and he laughed because by this point his face was probably numb too, so I doubt he could even feel the pain of my knuckles rubbing against his soft spot. Wait, what were we laughing about again? Who knows? It was funny. I was laughing so hard I was crying.

"Ah. Ino's probably looking for me." He suddenly remembered. And I stared at his pale face in horror. Yes. Yes that's right. Ino _was _probably looking for him. Oh no, he'd be _dead _if he didn't get back to her on her birthday. And it would be _my _fault for keeping him here!

"Oh kami-sama, Sai! Go find her! It's her birthday! Gimme that bottle and stop drinking! You guys have to be able to fuck later!" It was a half-assed excuse in order to steal his bottle so the bartender didn't have to deal with me again, but who cares? I used it anyway. I grabbed the bottle, but he held onto it, and pushed my face so I was off of him. I tilted backwards a little, but proudly held myself steady on the chair.

"It's mine." He replied half-seriously and tugged on the bottle. I refused to loosen my grip.

"No, it's mine now. You have a girlfriend to go find." I reminded.

Sai glared at me. I glared back at Sai, and then… the funniest thing happened… I snickered because _nothing _happened and soon enough, we were both holding this _stupid _bottle of sake and laughing our asses off at _nothing_.

"I'll go find Ino when I'm finished this bottle." Sai settled.

"Good plan. I'll help you finish it."

"You have your own." He frowned again, but the frown didn't stay for long because he knew I was going to say something totally stupid next.

"So what. I'm the princess of all alcohol. It's in my royal jurisdiction to drink it." And I snaked my tongue to lick the top of his bottle to which he cried out in horror at and I cackled.

"It's mine! It's all mine! You have to have it from the little glass now!" And I tried to pour the sake into his glass as best as possible. I only spilled a little. Sai laughed at me as I was pouring. I laughed at myself and ended up spilling more. He started to drink from the glass. To my distaste, there was only a little of sake left at the bottom of the bottle, so I chugged it, like a thirsty man chugging water in Suna and went back to drinking my bottle.

"You owe me a bottle of Sake." He spoke when he was done drinking from his glass.

"Fine. I'll buy you six when your birthday comes up. Stop complaining." I responded and Sai laughed.

"You sound like a tired husband." He noted. I laughed harder, because I did.

"You sound like an annoying wife." He laughed hard too. He finished his glass, gave me an awkward hug that almost tipped me off of my bar stool and then walked, well, kinda _swayed_ away to go find Ino and then use the bathroom. Or the reverse. I forget what he said.

I ordered a plate of rice and ginger and started eating while drinking. Because food was so, _so_ good. It was good by itself but man, when you're drunk, food is the best. When the table started twitching, I laughed at it. Because tables don't twitch unless you're drunk.

I spent the rest of the party eating cake and drinking away until all the colors and faces around me blurred. I'm pretty sure Kakashi-sensei and some older jonin stopped by to speak with me too but I don't really remember the conversation we had… maybe it was a daydream I had while thinking…

Anyway, after I was thoroughly sure nothing would be haunting me tonight, I hugged and even kissed Ino on the cheek before I left. That was around twelve. I staggered my way back to my apartment and when I got to my door I looked at the apartment next to mine. 312. Sasuke's apartment. That idiot. He was on a mission. He should be drunk with me _and _Naruto and Kakashi-sensei and Sai. That was it… my birthday was happening at a bar… and they were _all _going to go. Whether they liked it or not. I laughed while thinking about slipping tomatoes into Sasuke's hallucinogens… I mean, slipping hallucinogens into Sasuke's whaaat? What was I saying? Was I planning something? Whatever I had to open my door. Focus Sakura… the world isn't spinning _that_ fast.

I ran my key in circles over my knob until I finally found the keyhole. I stuck the key in, flung myself through my apartment and shut it behind me. I staggered to my bed, fell face first down on top of it and slipped into a blank, dreamless, _blissful_ sleep filled with the remainder of my own good feelings and laughter.

-X-

Well that was short and uneventful but it was fun to write. A drunk Sakura is always a fun Sakura. But always remember, **drink responsibly. This chapter was not intended to make drinking look like it's fun. It's actually here so you guys realize that drinking your problems away is a problem. Sakura has a ****problem. **** I cannot express to you how important that is to know. Just because she's a responsible and happy drunk doesn't mean it's all right or sets a good example for you guys. If you have issues, don't use anything to escape. That's ratchet and you guys are waaaaaaaaay better than that. Legit. **

Anyway, please review. I would love to hear your thoughts!

I do not own Naruto ™. That belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and whoever else. I do not profit from writing this; it is fan-made and purely for fun and relaxation.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	5. More Evil Plotting

KISEKI

|5|

-X-

Yugao and Tetsuo were already at the gates when I arrived. No sleep for me. And to my distaste, the Yamanaka arrived just after I did. Yugao was wearing her tiger mask. Testuo wore the mask of an owl and the Yamanaka wore the mask of a mouse. Tch. He looked like an idiot. I didn't have much of a camaraderie with Sai, but even he made mice look cooler than Yamanaka. Our captain positioned herself in front of us. We lined up in response, the Yamanaka to my left, the Hyuuga to my right.

"Uzuki Yugao. Twenty-six years of age. Specialty: kenjutsu. State your names, Ages and Specialties in that order." Yugao was the same age as Itachi would have been had he still been alive… When I was initiated into anbu, Yugao had been the first to tell me she never believed my brother did it on purpose, and was kind enough to mention that many Konoha anbu suspected something was up, but didn't have the power to say or do anything about it. Yugao, next to Naruto, was one of my first friends and comrades, upon returning to Konoha. All of the remaining jounin and chunnin still distrusted me after the war. It was a relief at the time to know someone was still on my side; that not _everyone _hated me and that I just had a lot of proving wrong and atoning to do. And true to the rumors, her kenjutsu skills were a rarity. I snapped back to attention; Yamanaka decided to pioneer the introductions.

"Yamanaka Suchiru. Twenty-four years of age. Specialty: Kenjutsu and mind-based ninjutsu." Kenjutsu too, huh? I wonder how good he is. It was my turn next.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Twenty-One years of age. Specialty: Kenjutsu and lightning-based ninjutsu." I could have gloated about my sharingan, but I never did and I never will. I kind of wanted to, just to remind Yamanaka who was better than him in a subtle way, but I remembered that I'm more mature than that and that I didn't want him to know that I disliked him. I needed him to be comfortable, so I could observe him, learn his habits, and then decide what to do with him. All in due time, Sasuke… all in due time…

"Hyuuga Testuo. Twenty-four years of age. Specialty: kenjutsu and Byakugan doujutsu." Tetsuo. I had never worked with him before, but if Naruto and Tsunade put a pair of doujutsu-users and two pairs of elite-level kenjutsu _specialists _on this team_,_ then the rebels we were seeking to disband were definitely at least jounin-level _nin_.

"Good. You're all here early so let's not waste time and move out. We have three groups of rebels to permanently disband." Yugao ordered.

Without a word, we took off into the trees and through the woods… little did I know that the _entire _trip through Fire Country would aggravate me…

…Because that _stupid _Yamanaka decided to make it a point to try to flirt with Yugao the _entire _way to our destination point: the forests of Sound.

"So, is purple your favorite color or is that just what your genes picked for you?"

It was a joke, but Yugao finally snapped. I snickered behind my mask.

*whoosh* She paused on a branch. I could practically _feel _the ass-kicking she was going to give him if he didn't shut the hell up.

"Mouse." She addressed him coldly.

"Hai, taicho?" Yamanaka seemed unaffected as he, Testuo and I paused just behind her.

"Shut up." Short, sweet, but effective.

And she moved on, not another word out of her. She was patient; I'll give her that. I had had enough at this point. If it were me, Yamanaka wouldn't have a tongue to further annoy me with anymore.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have pushed." The Hyuuga with choppy brown hair tried to soothe Yamanaka's bruised ego. Hn. I wasn't going to be so nice. Tetsuo took off and Suchiru— even his name was starting to piss me off— looked at me. I said and did nothing. I took off after Tetsuo. Not yet, Sasuke… Not yet…

Truth be told, if Yugao could rough him up for me it would be a lot better for me because I wouldn't be reported. I was an anbu, yes. I had restored the honor to the Uchiha clan, yes, but I was still on thin ice in a sense. I still had to be careful with the way I acted towards people.

And speaking of being on thin ice and wanting to cut people's tongues out, I actually don't know why I talked to Kakashi about Sakura getting duped by this guy. The most logical person to complain to would have been Naruto, because if I did something screwed up (like slice off the Yamanaka's tongue…or cock, whichever) Naruto would have my back and say the guy deserved it, but for some reason I felt weird telling him… maybe because he hadn't told me why he moved Sakura next to me… Oh well. It was too late now. Whatever. I kept moving. Maybe kami-sama felt merciful today, because the rest of the trip to the border of sound was silent.

-X-

Around nightfall, we made camp at the mouth of one of Orochimaru's old bases. I shuddered at the thought of actually _sleeping_ there (again), but if any scumbags were around they wouldn't be brave enough to go in. Orochimaru was famous for boobie-trapping his hideouts, and as his former apprentice it was my duty to go into the tunnels a decent distance and clear them. After doing so, we collected wood and made camp. Tetsuo went out to do the hunting. The woods were silent aside from the insects and nocturnal animals, and as far as I could tell we were the only people around for miles. Sound had been abandoned after Orochimaru's untimely death at my hands. The tiny encampments that littered the forest were just left behind without a thought. We had even passed a few houses that still stood, rotting away under nature's wrath, completely vacant. As for Orochimaru? He had disappeared after the war. Who the hell knows where he went, but he'd be stupid to come back to Sound. He was supposed to be put to death after the war. However, because he kind of helped end it… Tsunade gave him a decent head start before she went looking for him. Sometimes we went on scouting missions searching around for evidence of his machinations but we never found anything. I wondered if my old sensei had gotten better at covering his tracks, or if he eventually just gave in and settled down, like he should… Though the latter wasn't like him. I got to work lighting the fire, which was easy work through the usage of a small katon jutsu.

It's funny how you carry traits from each person who teaches you something. You build similar habits to your sensei. It's funny how Orochimaru had left Jiraiya and Tsunade behind, breaking up their team, but talked about them often when we trained. We were the same in that aspect. I had left Naruto and Sakura. I had broken our team up… for good and reminisced and talked about them often, though never to anyone else but myself... I frowned at that thought… maybe I _hadn't_ destroyed our team "for good". I thought about my and Sakura's "wall conversation" that morning… yeah… maybe not for good. Maybe there was still something there to salvage…

"Cat." Yugao's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Mn?"

"I was just asking you a question." The mouse repeated.

"What is it?" I hadn't realized they were talking. How fucking tired was I?

"Who should take first watch?" Yugao repeated for Yamanaka.

"I'll do it." I was already tired to begin-with. Sleep would come and stay easier if I exhausted myself _entirely_ before I slept.

Just then, Testuo appeared. None of us were startled. He had been blatantly obvious, flashing his chakra in a pattern we agreed on upon arriving here. Yugao and Yamanaka had more than decent sensory skills. I just had my sharingan activated. I had seen him coming a mile away. He had four small rabbits in his right hand by their ears, throats slit open. Good kunai skills made the skinning quick and easy work and before long we were skewering the things, sticking them into the fire. A silent dinner later, coupled with the rest of Sakura's soup, I was out on first watch, perching in a tree nearby to watch the campsite from all angles, sharingan _still_ ablaze.

Not even ten seconds in, I had a kunai to someone's throat. It was Yamanaka. He was standing casually across from me, like having a deadly man with a deadly weapon at his throat was no big deal.

"You let me get close." He jeered through his mask, and I had half a mind to murder him right there and make it look like suicide. I put the kunai away instead… my therapist called that "a dangerous thought".

"If you had been an enemy I would have let you get closer... you can see the blood better that way…" I deadpanned, because I was in no mood for his peppy bullshit. I was tired and he had been pissing me off the last couple of days…

…

Dick….

"Jeez, touchy aren't we? Relax, I just came here to ask you a couple of things."

Was today "make friends with Sasuke" day? Because I sure as hell didn't know that. Today was definitely a bad day to try and "be friends with Sasuke"… really.

"What." I wasn't patient. That didn't sound patient. Even if I back-tracked and replayed my response over and over I wouldn't find a speck of patience in my tone. None.

"Well, I heard you were Sakura's teammate after the academy. I wanted to know if you know what she likes." He was smiling, trying to be "the good guy". Fuck him; I wasn't buying it.

_She likes me, now fuck off._ The thought was fleeting, vicious, and selfish. And I _wanted _to say it, but I held back because that thought even scared me with how… _protective_ it sounded. It felt weird to guard a person that I had discarded with every fiber of my being, even in my mind. No, I definitely wasn't going to focus on that thought. Let's just put it away for later…

"I don't know. I wasn't focused on her before I left." My tone was cool, decently calm.

And truthfully, I really didn't know much about Sakura. I really hadn't cared about her until recently. But more importantly, _why_ the hell was I being honest with him? He didn't deserve it. He played the field, obviously. He was after Yugao's ass, as well as Sakura's. Any guy who was a decent friend would have punched him in the throat by now… aside from nii-san. Nii-san would have tricked him into looking like an ass. But I didn't have the patience for that kind of finesse. Maybe if I managed to make himself trip up with genjutsu at the hospital… I would have settled it there, but it was too late for that. I was just angry now and my anger made me sloppy, so neutrality was the easier thing to cling onto. I had to play his game now.

"Oh, that sucks. She's really hot, you know. And accomplished." I could _hear_ the excited grin in his tone.

That made that hell in my core burn again. What, did he _get off_ on fucking women out of his league? And I'm not talking about looks. I'm talking about women with self-respect and honorability. He was scummy, and neither Yugao nor Sakura were that way. They deserved better. I shrugged coolly in response because any second now I would lose my shit. I could feel the killing intent trying to leak out into my chakra, and it was making _me _nervous because I haven't felt this… I don't know… pissed off (?) in a while. Was "pissed off" even a good term for what I was feeling? I definitely felt my conscience screaming "justice" at me, and I couldn't exactly deliver justice right now because if I killed a Konoha shinobi to spare two of my teammates from inevitable suffering I'd _definitely _get kicked out of Konoha and hunted down later. I valued my bonds with Naruto, Sakura and Yugao more than I valued punching the shitty personality out of this Yamanaka so I kept it together, thankfully.

"Hn." Good. I was convincingly uncaring. That was something I was always good at.

"Wait, that sounds like you never even fucked her after the war… Did you?" He laughed in disbelief and here I thanked kami-sama that Kurama was never sealed inside me because I'd have unleashed it six billion times by now, and without a doubt, Yamanaka would have been a victim at some point… In fact, he'd have his face ripped off five minutes ago and wouldn't have gotten the chance to talk about anyone fucking Sakura in the first place.

Play his game, Sasuke… play his game. If he wanted to be an asshole, I'd be an asshole too.

"No. Never did." I played it cool. I played it so cool I felt cold, but that was probably because I was aggravated beyond belief. My fingers felt icy and my blood was pounding in my ears. I felt the adrenaline settling into my bones, making me more of a predator than I already was. I felt the way I felt when I heard those Konoha shinobi talking about my brother at that tavern before I knew the truth about everything so long ago… I felt _murderous_. Kami-sama help this Yamanaka because when I finally get my claws into him…

"Holy shit and here I thought that since you guys lived next to each other…" He trailed off and I felt my brain urging my hand towards the kunai pouch on my leg.

"No, nothing like that. She's fair game. Go for it if you want." Okay, now I _definitely _can't fuck this up. The "Sasuke is on your side" seed is in his head now and I can't fuck up. I would have to watch him like the hawk I am from now on and slide in at the perfect moment and trip him up… I would have to tell Kakashi my plan… my stupid but suave sensei was the only one who could help me now… and maybe my nii-san if he wasn't partying in the afterlife.

I smirked, thinking about Itachi partying and it made me feel better. Nii-san wasn't the type to go out and dance. He _did_ have a sense of humor though. Maybe he would have been easy-going like that if he wasn't born a prodigy and if all of that never happened… Hah. Itachi dancing with some stupid girl… I'd be ten years old, helping him fight all the women off.

Yeah… happy thoughts…

"All right, dude. I'll see you after your shift."

He clapped me on the back, something for which I almost murdered him for, and disappeared. Thank kami-sama because I… I wasn't patient enough. I had to be more like Itachi. Itachi would let him think he had the upper hand _ .ly. _Itachi wouldn't be tearing at the seams to get to this guy's throat, no. I had to be _way _more patient. The guy would get what he deserves, once I had the right people on my side to help me. Shit, I should actually have Ino help me out… if she could keep her mouth shut.

…

She knew my mind rather well, actually… She was there after the war, with the other therapists. I had to talk to her at length at one point and she was surprisingly caring and confidential when it came to her job. She also had known exactly what she was doing. She helped me with a lot of my post-traumatic stress and it would be _sick_ to get Yamanaka's own Clan Head against him. I smirked. Actually, I knew _exactly _how I was going to go about this… maybe… But I would have to play it cool. I couldn't move too fast once I was back in Konoha… The puzzle pieces starting clicking in place and I thought about everything step by step as I completed my shift.

-X-

Midday we all arrived in Kan. It was nicknamed the "Pipe Town". Not surprising, because everything was made of pipes; Pipes as far as the eye could see. Even the residential houses were round and pipe-shaped. Everything was grey and bland; nothing like Konoha. It actually reminded me of Amegakure. Maybe Ame got its materials from this town…

Regardless, we trickled in wearing our disguises. Yugao was dressed as a frail, weak "captive" in a torn up blue kimono, "owned" by Yamanaka, who was dressed like a pretty-boy businessman in a flashy kimono. Me and Tetsuo? We were the "body guards". I wore a black bandana to keep my hair disguised and popped in brown contacts. Tetsuo wore his bandana around his eyes and we both had matching black hakama and white tunics, our swords at our sides, chakra deeply suppressed. The game plan was to meet each group of rebels on their territory disguised as a different group of people.

Later that day, a man by the name of Oren died. Yugao had cut his throat after Yamanaka "sold" her to him. All we had to do was wait a few hours until he tried to get busy with her in his room. When he was dead we moved. The next scenario was different. We all looked like rebels. We met with the leader of the second group to the south of town. Word hadn't spread yet that the first guy was dead, probably because the people under him still thought he was screwing his concubine in his bedroom. Regardless, we were making beyond excellent time.

Anyway, this guy wanted us to fight his best swordsmen. I smirked because the job was for me, thanks to a nod from a "one-eyed" Yugao, wearing an eye-patch and blue bandana. I put the entire room of twelve swordsmen in a realistic genjutsu, including the leader. We slit his throat quietly and placed him upstairs in his bed. When the swordsmen woke up, they thought that we had lost and we played along as they kicked us out. They thought that their master went upstairs to sleep and asked not to be disturbed. Weak minds were easy to trick with the Sharingan… I was smirking as we moved to our next destination.

The third group was to the east of town, near the border of rice country. It was night by the time we made it to the last guy. He liked money and he liked stealing it. So Yugao and I pretended to be a merchant couple, selling fine jewelry. When the doors locked behind us and twenty nin came rushing in from the hallways around us, ready to capture us and take our money, I decided genjutsu was the least painful way to deal with them; after all, it's not their fault they're stupid and Naruto would want me to kill as little as possible. So Yugao had leapt at the lead man like a pouncing tigress, drawing a short sword from inside of her kimono sleeve. But the guy was good, and he wasn't taking any chances by looking into my eyes, so the fight was on. He was surprisingly good at swordplay. Apparently, he was a Kirigakure reject who almost made it into the seven swordsmen of the mist… _almost_. He was a drunk and a rapist and he didn't help in the war either. In short, he was a soulless dirtbag… but a _skilled _soulless dirtbag.

I heard a whistling sound through the air a little too late. An arrow had pierced Yugao through her right arm. Fuck. Where did the archer come from? Had he heard the commotion? No, we were silent. Had he been there to whole time? I looked at him, up on the second floor in front of the wooden railing. He had no chakra, just archery skills. I leapt at the wall while Yugao switched arms, dancing with the enemy with her non-dominant side. The archer moved to shoot her again, but I stopped his arrow with a shuriken. Like hell I was going to let him destroy one of my friends.

Good. He was focusing on me now. He realized I was more of a threat to him than Yugao. I dodged one, two, three arrows before I came up on him and got in his face. He wasn't very good at close-quarters combat. No skills in taijutsu. Zero. He threw a sloppy fist at my face, to which I dodged and then ducked under his bow, which he was trying to crack me across the side of the head with. Well, at least he wasn't stupid. His best chances of hurting me were to hit me where it counted; he knew that much at least... Too bad for him I was good at defending my vitals.

I punched him right in the face. He spun. I caught his arm, broke it, and hit the pressure point at the back of his neck just as Yugao cried out below. I dropped back down to the lower level of the traditional mansion like a beast from hell and threw multiple kunai at the dark, spiky-haired asshole. His previously crisp navy kimono was now shredded in certain spots and he was bleeding, thanks to Yugao. He wasn't going to stand much longer if he lost any more blood.

I inched forward, kusanagi now in my hand. And thus, our dance begun as Yugao staggered back to lean against a decorative wooden table… About ten seconds in he realized he was outmatched. I was better at kenjutsu than he was. His brown eyes flashed and water spat from his mouth as he turned to ninjutsu for help. The pressure of the blast of water cut my face a little, but I kept my eyes open. I ducked to the side and released a stream of electricity into the water, still flowing from his mouth…

His eyes widened when he noticed my raiton coursing through his suiton like it was going out of style. He couldn't cut off his flow of chakra fast enough and I practically heard his brain cells sizzle as the lightning electrocuted his insides. He dropped, seized and died, complete with foam coming out of his mouth. When the light left his eyes for good, I grabbed Yugao's uninjured arm, slung her over my shoulder and ran as fast I could to the main room, stole some necessary documents, and met the others just outside the mansion.

"Either of you iryo-nin?" I asked, once I saw Tetsuo's face in the trees above.

"I know the basics but we have to get out of here first . The sentries in the woods moved close enough to feel your chakra. They're on their way now and we have to either run or hide. There's too many of them. They're all jounin-level." Testsuo responded, a bit of sweat starting to bead at his temples.

He didn't have to tell me twice. We ran at top speed and thankfully, we had a good head start. I decided to carry Yugao on my back, to which she grumbled, but what did she want me to do? Leave her there to drag herself behind us as she bled all over the place? No. That wasn't going to happen. Once we got far away enough, I summoned a few hawks and we were out of there, performing a relatively clean escape. Tetsuo performed emergency field surgery to remove the arrow and heal Yugao's gashes while we flew. About thirty minutes later, we popped a few soldier pills and kept moving on foot. I smirked because we were _way_ ahead of time. I realized that that's why Tsunade had chosen us: she liked to kill the really bad things in the cradle, before they got the chance to flourish. We were the quick team, at least Yugao and I were when we were with Ishi and Tora. Chances are that there's a team that's going to head out and make sure these groups are permanently disbanded once we return. Meaning, if there was a scumbag who was going to take over the lead position after we just stunted their group's plans, they were going down.

Yugao was currently being carried by Tetsuo. A strange gurgling sound hit my ears as we were jumping from tree branch to tree branch and I looked over at the Hyuuga to find that he was now covered in all of Yugao's vomit… it was tinged in black… and I knew exactly what that meant… That arrow was poisoned. I didn't know if Tetsuo was horrified to see that Yugao's innards were tinged black, of if he was horrified at generally being covered in vomit.

Fuck. We still had a whole day and then some before we got her to the village… It was going to be a rough and stressful trip back and I partially wished that I was the one who got shot instead. I was better at handling poison than any other anbu I knew. I would have been slow, but okay on the way back had it been me, but Yugao… (?) Yugao was a different story. Her condition was worsening _rapidly…_

Nii-san… if you're watching… help…

-X-

Day three… and a half. I was just enjoying my mid-afternoon lunch, munching on some dango in my office when—

*BOOMSMASH!* I jumped, chakra scalpel in hand at the sound of my door being busted open. It was my head nurse: a brown-haired woman with soft, green eyes named Azumi. She looked panicked and disheveled.

"Sakura-sama!" She cried as if the village was being invaded again. "Team Tiger is back, one needs a blood transfusion! We think she's poisoned!"

Shit. Yugao-san! I left my dango to waste away on the surface of my desk and ran to the O.R.

-X-

Now I was unhappy. Yugao looked pale when the nurses made us sit outside of the O.R. I grimaced. I shouldn't have stopped to get those papers. We could have been here minutes earlier and she'd have a mildly better chance at life. I ran a hand through my hair and then heard the distinct sounds of clicking and a pair of sandals briskly coming down the hall. I looked over. It was Sakura. She looked at me and nodded in greeting, her expression serious.

"Sakura-chan." The dirty Yamanaka smiled, relief in his tone. I ignored him and continued to stand stiffly, arms crossed across my chest because if I paced I'd probably hit a wall because I felt useless.

"Come in with me. You're going to learn something today." Was all Sakura said to me as she walked past, only responding to Yamanaka with a nod. Entranced and intrigued, I followed her through the doors of the O.R.

"Sharingan on, Sasuke." She chastised as she read the medical chart that she grabbed off of the doors before she strode through. I obeyed because she was the doctor and that was my teammate and comrade dying on the table in this sterile-smelling hell. I still hated hospitals. I hated them since I woke up in one years ago the day after my family died. I don't think I'll ever stop hating hospitals. I don't know how Sakura stays sane after working in one all day.

"Watch everything I do and remember it, Sasuke." So I did. I watched as she coolly pushed aside the nurses, who were frantically trying to pump blood into Yugao. I watched as they all stood aside and let Sakura through. I watched as she snapped and told them to get her two large bowls of clear water. She cut off Yugao's disguise and revealed the anbu uniform beneath.

"Tetsuo's work was good." She smiled gently, and I noted that there wasn't even a scar on Yugao's arm where the arrow went through her. Yugao's face was still as pale and sickly as before and she was still unconscious. I watched as Sakura's sharp, green eyes snapped to me. They made me nervous because I had no idea what she wanted me to do and I wasn't used to taking orders from her.

"Come here and hold her down."

So I did, grabbing Yugao's wrists and holding them above her head.

"Watch everything I do carefully." She repeated and so I turned my head and watched.

-X-

It was important for Sasuke to know how to extract poison. He didn't have to know how to create antidotes, but he did need to know how to extract it. Yugao's life was hanging on by an asshair and it was because no one knew how to flush poison out. Sasuke had his sharingan so he'd be the quickest student. His red eyes watched sharply as I formed a chakra scalpel with my right hand. The pinwheels spun as they memorized the way my chakra hummed through my hand. I made an incision in Yugao's other arm. Those eyes memorized the depth. My patient struggled and screamed and Sasuke did his job, holding her down, just as the nurses burst in with two big bowls of purified water. I hated doing this without a topical anesthetic, but there was just no time for that… Every second counted at this point.

The bowls were placed on both sides of the hospital bed. One next to Sasuke, the other next to me. I formed the bubble and started pulling the poison out. It must have burned and I felt bad again when Yugao screamed and thrashed. She was now conscious thanks to the pain, but she was running a violent fever.

I worked quickly, flushing nearly every corner of her body with the water and my chakra before she got any nerve damage. Once most of the poison was out, my task was done and an iryo-nin closed the incision and lowered her temperature with her chakra. Diligently, Sasuke watched the nin do all of that too. He must feel guilty for not being able to do anything up until this point. I knew the feeling.

-X-

Right at that moment I realized that during my struggle for "power" throughout my whole life, I ignored anything and everything that had to do with saving a life. I had felt useless waiting outside the O.R. while my friend was dying. And Sakura… Sakura was the one with power here. She seemed to know how I felt because teaching me what I needed to know to prevent this sort of thing from ever happening again was helping me. I'd be impatient and twitchy out there if she hadn't brought me here with her.

I couldn't help but notice that somehow, she _knew_ what I needed, like she always did. How did she do that? How did she and Naruto just _know_? Regardless, when she began to walk away, scooping a sample of the poison in the bowl into a vile, I followed her, like a lost dog. What she did was incredible. The nurses were smiling now, hooking Yugao up to an IV drip, noting how her pulse and vitals were now stable. Sakura walked out of the O.R. and I was right behind her. I moved past my team, who looked at her with eager faces as she idly studied the color of the poison under the light. It was an ugly purple-black. I grimaced. I had to swallow something like that once… it's how Orochimaru conditioned me to resist poisons.

"She's stable. I'm going to go find or make an antidote to bring her back the rest of the way. You guys can go home or wait here. It shouldn't take long." She murmured half to herself as she walked, not realizing that I was following.

"Where are you going, Uchiha?" Yamanaka had opened his big mouth. Asshole.

-X-

That made me stop in my tracks. Someone lightly bumped into me and took a step back. As I turned around, I realized it was indeed Sasuke who had been following me, still looking extremely tense. _Why_ was he still following me? I hadn't even noticed until Suchiru had said something about it. Strange.

"Sasuke?" I asked. He glared at me. Oh, right. His teammate was dying. I forgot he cared now. I kept walking, waving Suchiru off as he walked with me.

"You know, you should be there with her, if that's how you feel. The next hour or so is going to be pretty boring." Because really, why would he want to sit and watch me do research when someone he cared about was suffering? It didn't make sense.

"I don't care." He wisely didn't comment on what I said about his feelings. Smartass. He didn't fall for the verbal trap I set. Whatever. I shrugged. He could come with me if he really wanted to. He wasn't going to buzz around and ask infinite questions like Naruto would so why not?

"Okay. Did you memorize the technique?" I asked as I turned the corner to find the lab.

"Ah. I don't have enough control to copy the technique." He sounded like he was unhappy with that thought and I chuckled.

"Well, we can't _all _be epic, Sasuke. Sorry." I grinned snidely. Finally he realized that I was more effective than him at something. Congratuations, Sakura! You've reached a milestone!

-X-

I smirked at that. So she was pompous about her inhumane chakra control, huh? Whatever. I still had to kick her ass during a spar at some point.

"We still have to spar." The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them. I should've just stayed quiet. What was wrong with me?

"Oh? Why do you mention that all of a sudden? Do you think you can learn chakra control by sparring with me?" She asked snidely in response. "You know, Sasuke, that kind of skill is achieved through hard work. You can't cheat your way through with your Sharingan." She smirked haughtily, as if she had one-upped me somehow, which technically she did. I didn't know shit about chakra control aside from needing some to maximize the amount of jutsu I could use in battle, and didn't realize its importance till now. I smirked, because not knowing something was going to help me stunt that Yamanaka's plans for Sakura. And in case you were wondering, no, I haven't forgotten about him, even though my friend is dying. I'm a great multi-tasker.

"No, I can't. But you can teach me if you'd like. I don't want my teammates to die." I half-lied. Because yes, I didn't want my teammates to die… but my motive? I wanted to be around her enough to make it hard for Yamanaka to get into her pants. I was literally going to cock-block the idiot and learning how to better control my chakra from _Sakura_, his _target_, was the perfect excuse to do so while furthering my arsenal of skills. Sakura had just proved she liked to teach and even though it was a tense moment, I proved I was more than capable at learning. So let the games begin, Yamanaka asshole…

-X-

Eventually we ended up at the end of a hallway and Sakura slid a keycard into an electronic lock on a pair of white, double doors. They opened automatically and we walked into a cool laboratory with many countertops that held several empty tubes, vials, and tabletop burners. There was no one there, surprisingly and on the left there was a door that led to an isolated "testing" room that could be seen into from the lab. To the right there was a large, clear box on a platform with two, large holes in it that housed two fire and chemical-proof gloves, so you could safely mix things that may or may not get into your face. Interesting.

This was surprisingly less creepy than the last lab I was in, but that was a given since the last lab I had visited belonged to Orochimaru. I half-expected to walk into that closet straight ahead and see a row of test subjects floating around in tubes, but I doubt Sakura or Tsunade would allow for such atrocities. Sakura reached into a cabinet on the wall to the right, where the clear box was and I watched as she pulled out several clear glass slides and droppers. She grabbed a pair of gloves, a hair net and a mask and sat down in front of a station on a little bar stool. I moved to sit next to her but she held her hand up. I glared at her for being wordless and authoritarian, but his _was_ her territory and her expertise so I let up.

"Go grab a hair net, a mask and a pair of gloves if you want to sit so close. Do _anything_, just don't get your DNA into Yugao-san's blood sample." She spoke sternly as she pulled a little capped vial out with what looked like blood inside of it. When did she get that? Did one of the nurses slip it into her pocket while she was extracting the poison? Probably. I went and got a pair of gloves, a hair net and a face mask. I felt odd, like I had somehow projected myself into Kabuto's body or something… I resisted the urge to shudder. I don't know how she could manage to perform surgeries. I'd probably want to throw up if I had to examine the insides of a still-living person. Killing a person was different than _examining_ a person… way different…

She took tiny droplets of the blood and placed it in many different, tiny vials of glass. Once she was done, she took an entire tray of those tiny vials and took them into what I thought was the closet. I heard the whirring of a machine back there and she came out minutes later.

"That's going to tell me the main compounds of the poison while I look at it here." She explained effortlessly as she sat back down in front of the microscope. Did I have a dumb look on my face? Is that why she felt the need to simplify what she was doing? I shook my head, forgetting about that thought and watched as she placed a tiny drop of the poison onto a slide and stuck it under the scope.

-X-

Damn it. She had been right, earlier. Twenty minutes later I was bored out of my mind, despite how many times I accidentally checked her ass out. How the _hell _did she put up with her job? Where was Naruto? What was so interesting about that _one_ slide? My thoughts were staring to drive me crazy and all of a sudden the machine in the back room beeped. Smiling, Sakura stood up to go get whatever she had to get. Curious, I sat in her seat and stared down into the microscope. All I saw was blobs. And little specs of shiny things. She came back. I heard her steps, but instead of telling me to get out of her way, she chuckled.

"The poison is made of heavy metals, most likely imported from Earth Country on the black market. Its main component is iron. That's why Yugao-san was throwing up. She had an over-dosage of iron and other compounds to break both her liver and other major organs down. Effective, but easily stoppable." She effortlessly explained in a gentle tone. It sounded sexy and again, I had to force myself to think about other things. I thought about the shiny things I saw on the microscope. Was that the iron I was seeing?

I looked up at her from the microscope and nodded. I had nothing to say to her analysis because she was the expert here. If I was to be honest, I'd be lost if I were thrown into her position, but I kept my mouth shut. I watched her rifle through some cabinets and pull out herbs, a mortar and pestle. She added some water and started grinding specific amounts of herbs into the mix next to me. She weighed them all on a small scale before she threw them into the tiny bowl and continued grinding. Once she was done, she heated the mix on the tabletop burner. It boiled in the test tube until it became a purple solution, and then she let it cool down. She went into the cabinet and pulled out a hypodermic needle. Believe it or not, needles actually made me nervous. I had started hating needles after I witnessed Orochimaru and Kabuto prodding them into children younger than myself…

I tensed as she went up to the mixture once it was done cooling and sucked it up into the needle. She capped it, took off the gloves, hair net and mask and started walking out. I stripped off the same extra articles and followed her. She started snickering down the hall and I glared at her because I thought she found my distaste for needles amusing.

"What?" I asked, just to be sure my theory was correct.

"You looked funny in the hair net. Now I know what you'd look like as a lunch lady." Oh. … Okay… And she giggled away at my expense. I refused to reply and give her the satisfaction of knowing she was being annoying and messing with my head. Actually, forget it, I'm going to tell her anyway.

"You're annoying." I half-growled out.

"And aside from your toilet fiasco you're no fun." She quipped back and I _swear _her shoulders broadened, as if it were her _proud_ duty to shoot witty comebacks at me. Again, _what _had happened to Sakura this whole time we hadn't seen each other?

"I'm fun." I shot back defensively. Because I _could_ be fun… I think… Depending on her definition of fun, of course. Right? _Right?_ I smirked, remembering the last fun thing I did…

"You've never seen Naruto and me prank Kakashi." I pointed out, feeling victorious. She wasn't there the time we got him drunk and told him we were taking him to a strip club. We ended up taking him to a men's strip club and ditching him instead. It was funny watching him try to leave when all the women there had clung onto him and begged him to take his clothes off.

"Oh no, Sasuke." Sakura interrupted my nostalgia with a superior tone that slightly enticed me. "_You've _never seen _me_ and Naruto prank Kakashi-sensei." She replied with a small smirk on her lips. I realized then how full her lips were. They looked soft. I looked away. Suddenly I felt a pain in my ribs and I realized it was her elbow digging into them.

"_What_?" I grunted. Really? What was she bugging me for?

"Lighten up. I never thought you'd be the sensitive, easily-hurt type." What? She thought I was _offended_. No, I was just… being weird. Having weird thoughts…

"I'm neither of those things. I was just thinking."

"About how Naruto and I prank Kakashi sensei?" She asked innocently. Yeah let's go with that.

"Ah."

She started cackling evilly to herself, probably remembering the last horrible thing she had done to him, Naruto at her side like a minion from hell. I smirked too, wondering what they possibly could have cooked up for the old man.

"He doesn't like it when Naruto and I prank him." That was more than enough to get my imagination going. Who knows what she could come up with, with her medical background and all…

"Speaking of Kakashi-sensei, do you think he'll ever tell Kurenai-sensei he likes her?"

What?

When the words left her mouth I stopped so hard, my ultra-silent nin boots actually _squeaked_. Wait. _Kakashi_ liked _Kurenai_? I grimaced… But she had a _baby_. But I guess, to each his own. Sakura was now staring at me wide-eyed and started laughing. I must have a shocked look on my face. And damn it, she seemed to enjoy laughing at me.

"I'm sorry, I thought you knew." She giggled.

We continued walking.

"He's secretive." I mentioned, because I had _no_ idea, not even a single inclination as to what Kakashi's feelings were for Kurenai. I seriously thought that he was just going to stay a lecherous celibate… I felt stupid and blind for not noticing sooner.

"He tries to be." She grinned. I looked down at her and wondered how she figured it out.

"When did you realize?" I asked, because I was genuinely curious.

"You can't tell him." She gave a mischievous smile and her eyes glittered when she spoke. She even held up a finger to those full lips I was talking about earlier. Fuck. I never realized how delicate her fingers looked. I wonder if she had callouses on her hands… Most women who touched me had soft hands. I've never slept with a kunoichi. They were bad news. And a lot of the rogue ones wanted my head for a hefty bounty; probably because of a sign Orochimaru posted somewhere. It was just safer to sleep with someone I could be vulnerable around. Shit she was talking again. I hope I didn't miss anything.

"Naruto and I followed him one day. He went to Kurenai-sensei's apartment to see her son." She explained.

"So?" That didn't mean jack.

"Sasuke, don't tell me you have these amazing eyes given to you by birth and yet you can't see that Kakashi-sensei _never _directly goes to anyone…" She deadpanned.

I smirked. Yes, thank you Haruno Sakura, my eyes _are _amazing. But anyway, she had a point. People usually found Kakashi. Kakashi never went to find anyone. He only visited graves, not living people, unless he was invited somewhere. That was a bad habit of his.

"You have a point. Has he been seeing her often?" I asked.

"I think so." She nodded, a small smile on her face. I couldn't tell if the smile was sad or happy. But… why would she be sad? Logically, she should be happy, so I didn't look further into it. Maybe I was reading into her expression too deeply.

"He hasn't been available for training…" I commented instead. Maybe Kakashi was spending all of the time he could be teaching me with Kurenai. That horny bast— well… maybe it was understandable. He _was_ getting older. He needed to settle down at some point… I shuddered at the thought of Kakashi marrying anyone. That was just… not what I had grown accustomed to these last eight years of knowing him.

"Maybe they'll get married." Sakura grinned. "And I can drink at his wedding." What was with her and drinking? Did she have an addiction like her sensei? Hn. Of all the people to gain something _annoying _from their sensei… _Sakura _had gained _Tsunade's_ drinking habits…

"You like to drink." I stated, because I wanted to find out what her deal with booze was… She laughed lightly in response.

"Surprised? I don't like the way I feel the next morning, but yeah I guess you could say I like to drink." She shrugged and I didn't feel like her heart was in her answer, so I pressed further, trying to be as social as possible.

"I don't think you like to drink." I called her out and her face became serious. That was the face a nin wore when their opponent was starting to work around their skillset. I almost smirked in satisfaction. I cornered her there. Let's see if she'll admit it or not…

"I don't think you can out-drink me." Ah, good one Sakura. She changed the topic. I didn't feel like being an asshole so I left the previous topic alone and followed the route of conversation she wanted to take.

"I think I can." I replied coolly. Because I probably could.

"You forget who my sensei is, Sasuke." She replied as we turned a corner. Were we taking the long way back?

"And _you're_ forgetting who _my _sensei was, Sakura." Really? Didn't she ever learn? The body treated alcohol like a _poison._ Currently, I was probably the most poison-immune person in the world, unless some half-minded shaman who worshipped poison somewhere out in the wilderness existed, but I highly doubt that.

"Well, maybe we can see who can outdrink who, one day, Sasuke." She smiled cleverly.

"Is that a challenge, Sakura?" Because I wanted to know if it was. Because if it was, I was going to show her who was the _kage _of drinking, because it certainly wasn't her. Granted, I didn't _like _to drink. I didn't like how sluggish and sloppy it made me feel. I didn't like the feeling of not being able to precisely control my body because it was my best weapon. It kept me alive. But I could damn well _handle _the alcohol; that was for sure.

"It can be, Sasuke." She responded confidently, with a playful glint in her jade eyes.

"Then it's on." I deadpanned.

"Fine. When and where?" She easily quipped back.

"The next big event that has a bar." Because my therapists said I needed to go to more "bonding events" with the rest of my age group.

"My birthday is going to be at a bar. We can drink then." She offered.

"No, everyone's going to want to drink with you then."

"Yeah, that's true… it needs to be fair… I know!" Her face lit up. "Lee is going to be promoted to tokubetsu jounin soon and he'll get his own team! We can drink then!" She ranted excitedly, and for a second, I thought I saw a glimpse of the old Sakura that I once knew. I felt a small smile tugging at my lips.

"Mm." In any case, her idea was good. I did _not _want to be awkward at that event. We turned another corner and there were the doors to the O.R. we were at before. Sakura strolled in, hypodermic needle in hand. Yamanaka greeted her with a gentle smile that I wanted to rip off of his stupid face and Tetsuo gave her a worried look.

"No worries. She's going to be fine. In a few hours the poison will be completely eradicated from her system and she'll be good to go after a day or two of bed-rest. If either of you even _think_ of sneaking her out early, I'll find you, kill you, summon your soul, and force you to clean my apartment in silence forever and ever." She threatened comically, but she still meant it.

Yamanaka laughed, and Tetsuo grinned as she administered the antidote. Once everything in the needle was gone, she threw it into a biohazard container on the wall and lowered Yugao's fever with her chakra.

"Did either of you report to Tsunade?" I asked, suddenly reminded of our responsibilities as an anbu team returning from a mission. Testsuo nodded. Good, I was done here, then.

"I'll see you later." I spoke to Sakura to be courteous for a change. She nodded and I thought I felt some hate in the room, but ignored it, because I'm Uchiha Sasuke and if that Yamanaka thinks he's better than me he can suck someone off, because he's not. I decided to go visit Ino first. If I was correct, she'd be in her office in the psych section of T&amp;I…

-X-

Sasuke had left rather abruptly, but that wasn't a big deal. I pulled up a chair next to Yugao's bed and sat down. If Tetsuo-san and Suchiru were going to wait for her to wake up, I would too. Too bad I didn't have my book with me. I could use some relaxation right about now.

"Thank you for saving our captain, Sakura-san." It was Suchiru who spoke.

"Just Sakura, please. And you're welcome." I smiled back and Suchiru nodded, green eyes sparkling with intensty. Kami-sama he was sexy! Testsuo stood up and stretched. I grinned because it wasn't a "Hyuuga" thing to do. Tetsuo-san smiled back at me when he was done and exhaled in relief.

"That was stressful." He commented. "I'm going to go home and shower." I shuddered at how much his eyes reminded me of Neji's, not their color per se, but their shape. I nodded grimly in return. Tetsuo noticed the tiny change in my expression, but he didn't comment, respecting my privacy. He shook Suchiru's hand and waltzed off. Now that he was gone and left me with Neji's memory, I felt like leaving too. I should go visit Neji and Rin… and Itachi… Abruptly, I stood up.

"So, when do you want to go to Kiri to dance? I need to tell Ino a date." Suchiru's voice interrupted my gloomy thoughts and before I knew it I was smiling again, but I didn't feel _completely _better. In all honestly, I actually felt _great_ when Sasuke was around earlier. Weird, huh? But I guess being his friend was what my heavy conscience needed.

"Tomorrow night. See if it works for her and get back to me, ne?" I responded automatically, sparing my thoughts for later. I'm sure Itachi will be happy to hear that I patched things up with his little brother.

He nodded. "You must be tired after a surgery like that." He commented, a concerned look on his handsome face.

"Just another hour and a half or so." I shrugged back, because it was no big deal. I was Haruno Sakura. I was used to this. Just another hour and a half and then I'd be home, cooking. Suchiru nodded again and I turned and left. Rin and Neji were close by and so was Ino's flower shop. With a quick plan in mind I decided to go and finish the rest of my shift by helping Shizune with some paperwork and organization.

-X-

I made a hasty appointment and had to wait a few hours in order to see Ino. She was still working on ptsd victims from the war, so I read books in her blue and white lobby while her secretary shot me looks when she thought I wasn't paying attention. Somehow, I wasn't interested in women today. All I could think of was my plan. Ino wouldn't open her mouth if I told her what needed to be said during a psych session. I was banking on how much she cared about her job for the secrecy of this entire cock-blocking mission. I smirked into the book, not really reading its pages, much like my sensei. If it worked I was going to tell Kakashi everything, because sharing funny stories helped solidify bonds, right? _And _Kakashi would laugh, thus he'd be off guard so I could grill him about Kurenai afterwards…

"Uchiha-san?" The secretary shyly spoke. I shut the book and looked at her as a nin walked out of the office with an uncertain smile on his face, as if _maybe_ his life would get better. When you were mentally traumatized, that hope, that small _maybe _was all you needed to push forward. Ino was doing her job and she was doing it well. "You can go through that door now. Ino-sama's office is—

"The second on the right." I finished for her and she blushed. "Thanks." I got up and strode through. I knocked on Ino's door.

"Come in!"

I entered and she stimulated the seal that made the room sound-proof with her chakra. I sat down in the cushioned chair across from her large oak desk.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you all right?" She asked out of concern almost immediately, and I wasn't surprised. After knowing what was in my mind, seeing me here after so long _would _be alarming. I held up my hand to calm her.

"I'm fine."

She frowned. "So why are you here?"

"I _am_ having a minor problem, though… that I came here to talk about." I carefully stated.

She immediately became professional. Good. That's where I needed her mind to be.

"Let me get your book."

I allowed her to rifle through her drawers for a minute. She found the red notebook with my name on it, flipped to the most recent page and smiled.

"It's been a whole year and a half since you last had therapy with me." She commented in a positive tone.

I nodded slowly. Yes it _had _been an entire year and a half… time flew…

"So talk to me. What's this visit about?" She got right back on track, remembering that I wasn't exactly the type for idle chit chat when I had things that needed to get taken care of.

"I need to show you before I tell you anything." I stated.

She nodded, already familiar with this process. I activated my sharingan and pulled her into my mind. I showed her everything I overheard in the hospital and everything the Yamanaka said to me in the woods that night _plus _all the times he had hit on Yugao throughout that entire mission. When I was done, she was frowning, arms crossed across her chest.

"Your cousin is _trying _to hurt two of my teammates. You saw everything." She couldn't refute that or call me crazy. She might have if I had told her instead of showed her and I just didn't have the patience for the "are you _sure_ that's what you saw, Sasuke?" today.

"Huh… who knew Suchiru was like that? That _sneak_." I nodded. Sneaky bastard indeed. "Regardless, I can't do anything to step in. That's a complete invasion of Sakura's private life. Also, I'd be violating a few rules." She shook her head and I glared at her. I crossed my arms too because that was bullshit. She _had_ to help me. She was to only one who _could_.

"You have to help me. She won't listen to me." I _showed_ her the memory of Sakura nearly breaking my arm at the hospital. She _knew_ I was shit out of luck at this point. Also, Sakura, her own _best friend _was the real victim here. Yugao wasn't stupid. Furthermore, she was already in love… with a dead man, yes, but she loved someone nonetheless, and that made her immune to bullshit of the kind that the Yamanaka was giving her. She'd be a bitch to him long enough to make him give up… but Sakura? Sakura was always vulnerable with her feelings. She wore her heart on her sleeve like it was a _good_ thing. A guy like Suchiru would turn her feelings inside out with the type of shit he did.

"I can't do anything, Sasuke." She regretfully spoke. It only pissed me off more.

"He's _your_ stupid cousin. You _can_. You _have_ to…" It's as close to pleading as I was going to get. Then, the scariest thing happened.

"Well, I _do_ care about Sakura a lot…" She smirked. Seeing the usually cheerful Ino smirking was a bit traumatizing. I didn't think she had it in her to look _demonically calculating_… "If… If you promise to take her out on a date instead I'll help stop this before it turns into something big." She boldly crossed her arms and took a firm position.

What? No way. And give Sakura the wrong idea about me?

"No deal. I'd rather not turn into the bad guy." Because me taking Sakura out on a date could possibly give her a false sense of hope. I wasn't going to fuck with Sakura's feelings in place of Ino's cousin. It may be in the past, but Sakura had something for me at some point, and it was beyond messed up to dig all that up for nothing. I wasn't going to do it. No way.

Ino sighed.

"Fine. You don't have to _directly _tell her it's a date. Just take her somewhere nice and I'll help."

I wasn't stupid. Sakura was a girl. She'd read into it.

"No." I stood firmly in that decision.

Ino gasped in mock surprise, but then cunningly shrugged.

"Wow, who knew Uchiha Sasuke thought his pride was more important than his teammate…" She spoke in mock disappointment.

That hit home. I did _not_ care about my pride more than my friends… I had changed. How could she even go so far as to question that fact! I grit my teeth. I didn't have to _directly _tell Sakura it was a date. So all I had to do was dress up and take her somewhere nice. That wasn't a big deal. I could play that off. Sakura didn't give a shit about me that way anymore anyway and having an ally so close to my enemy… it was priceless. This kind of thing didn't happen often… I stood up and held out my hand for Ino to shake. She grinned broadly, almost _evilly _and shook my hand with a tight grip. I felt like I was striking an agreement with the king of hell.

"You have a deal, Uchiha Sasuke. I know they have a date coming up soon. They want me and Sai to go with them. Maybe we can do something about it…" She plotted almost to herself as she seemed to zone out.

What the fuck were we going to do? Burn down every club in Kiri? Ino must have noticed my skeptical look because she sighed and crossed her arms.

"We just have to make Suchiru unable to go…" She shrugged.

The gears in my mind started turning… to me, the only thing that would stop me from having sex with a woman that I genuinely wanted to have sex with… was death… The only thing that could stop me from doing anything that I wanted to do in general was death. We couldn't kill her cousin. That was bad for both me and her. So… what's the closest to death? Injury? Meh, that could be healed… maybe…

Suddenly Ino's blue eyes met mine and we both came to the same conclusion.

"Illness." We said in unison.

"How do we make him sick?" I asked, because I sure as hell wasn't going to spoon-feed him shit; that went without saying.

"I'm going to go find out from Sakura when they're going, first. I'll meet you at the park in an hour and we'll think of something then." She spoke.

I nodded and then bowed because that was my way of saying "thank you", and then I left her office, content that I had an ally.

-X-

I placed the tiger-lilly flowers on Itachi's grave, noticing that the hair I had left behind the last time had washed away with the rain.

"Oi. It's me again. I wanted to say thank you, because you helped me out a lot. Naruto, Sasuke and I are going to have ramen together soon. I think Kakashi-sensei and Sai will come along too." I smiled at the stoic picture of Itachi-san and wondered if maybe he _did_ have a tiny smile in his picture… not necessarily on his face, but in his eyes. I knelt in front of the grave and looked over to smile at Obito's grave, where I had already prayed and placed flowers.

"Anyway, sometimes I wonder if you guys are enjoying the peace over where you are. I should have asked when you guys came back what it's like, you know, on the other side, but I think I'm happier not knowing. I brought you flowers this time. I don't know what kind of flowers you like, or if you liked flowers to begin-with but I brought you _my_ favorites, instead. I hope that's not offensive or anything…" I grinned here, because I was totally a weirdo. "You would think I like Sakura blossoms because of my name, but I hate anything that has to do with those flowers. "Pink" and "delicate" is so…. not _me_. But I guess it makes for a good disguise." I shrugged. "You know, because I was so frail when I was little, my parents told me I didn't have to be a ninja. I went into the academy to try anyway and that's where I met Naruto and your brother… It's too bad we couldn't be friends back then… Imagine how different things could have been if I hadn't been so stupid… Oh well, whatever. What's done is done. It can't be undone. Anyway, Itachi-san… thank you for your trouble. I appreciate you listening and caring for my friends. Rest easy and enjoy the tiger-lillies." I placed my hands together, bowed in my already kneeling position and lifted myself to my feet. I smiled one last time at both Obito and Itachi and walked away, carrying he basket I used to carry all of the tiger-lillies in.

When I came back to my apartment, Ino was leaning against my door, smiling. I smiled back at her, feeling light and refreshed after talking to my deceased friends. I guess that was weird when I said it that way, but whatever. I don't care that I'm strange; I feel better and that's all that matters.

"Oi, Ino-pig." I greeted.

"Sakura! So, I heard from a little bird that—

Oh no. I clamped my hand over her mouth really fast. Sasuke's light was on and Ino was being _obliviously, blaringly _loud. She was mumbling into my hand now and I clamped it tighter. To my disgust I saw her eyes gleam and just then, she licked my hand. Grossed out, I shrieked and hit her shoulder, simultaneously wiping her spit off on it and she cackled haughtily.

"What? Don't want—

"NO. I don't want that." Because we both knew she was talking about me not wanting Sasuke to know my personal business, especially my personal business regarding Suchiru, because the scheming expression on her face told me that's what she was here about.

"Oh, we should go inside then." She gestured towards my apartment, but even I knew that was a dumb idea. It definitely wasn't any better than talking out here or screaming my business from the top of the hokage tower.

"Actually… let's go for a walk… to your mom's shop. I was just there, but I think I want some more tiger-lillies for myself…"

"Ah, okay…"

-X-

Good. They were leaving, so it wouldn't look weird and suspicious if I left at the same time Ino left Sakura's apartment. Ino had played that really well. I waited for their chakras to disappear out of my pathetic sensory range and slid open my window. I guess I could go and visit my brother for an hour… It was almost sunset anyway.

-X-

I noticed something at nii-san's grave. There were tiger-lillies there. Hadn't Sakura been talking about tiger-lillies back at the complex and getting more from Ino's mom's shop? I looked over to Obito's grave. More tiger-lillies. Somehow, it made me smile that I wasn't the only person who cared about my brother… That Itachi had all sorts of company in death… not just mine. Still, it was sad to realize that Sakura had been more involved with the dead than with the living. What was up with her, really? Dead people were my and Kakashi's thing. Her bright pink hair didn't belong in a graveyard. I frowned.

"Nii-san…" I sat down next to the flowers and leaned against the stone pillar. I touched a tiger lillie's soft petals and started whispering everything that's been bothering me to my brother's spirit.

"Maybe you're watching over Sakura too…" I contemplated after a period of silence when I was done rambling. "If you are, I don't see how you can't just tell her what I know. She can't be _that _dense, right? I mean, I can see right through that Yamanaka… I wonder if she really _can't _see his game or if she just changed over the years and learned how to play it, knowing that in the end, she won't _let _herself get hurt… Why are women so complicated? Sometimes I wish I was in your position. I'd rather be dead than be caught in something like this, but I can't ignore it either. Maybe… maybe you can help me out too, even though you probably think I don't want your help, I kind of need it. Just a shove in the right direction would be—

Rustling. In the bushes. I stood up and steadied my hand over my kunai pouch. Good thing I was still in my anbu uniform.

"Relax, Sasuke-kun it's just me." Ino shuffled out, dusting leaves off of her skirt. "Sorry, I had to take the woods. Sakura's sensory skills are getting better…" She commented and I relaxed and placed my arms at my sides.

"Well?" What had she found out?

"Okay, so…. Their plans changed. They're going to a club in the Festival town tomorrow night, so we have the rest of the night and all of tomorrow to somehow stop this from happening. I think he's getting VIP booth tickets now…" Ino didn't sound too confident. I must have been gaping at her. Tomorrow night? That fast? …Already? The bastard moved quick; I'll give him that…

"Time's-a wastin'…" She tapped her foot to make a point. I glared at her. I wasn't some evil geniu— well okay I was… But I didn't particularly ha— Okay I did particularly hate her cousin… I could come up with _something_. Where and how can I get my hands on a debilitating virus that would take effect tomorrow _without_ having to hunt down either kabuto or Orochimaru…? Medics… I had to think of vulnerable medi— DUH. The hospital! It was blaringly obvious, I'll just sneak into the hospital and nab an illness that can be put in his food or something… Ino seemed to notice my epiphany and cocked a thin, blonde brow.

"Just tell me if you know of any nurse with high-level clearance at the hospital… and where they keep samples of diseases…" I deadpanned. Because I was seriously going to break into the hospital and steal the flu for my own selfish needs… If I got caught I would have a lot of explaining to do, but it would be worth it…

"Oh god, you're _so_ not medic enough to succeed at what you're about to do." Ino huffed and even though I was offended she was partially correct. "We'll go together. I don't want Suchiru catching something incurable…"

I stared at her in response. Did Ino really just _agree_ to assist me in blatantly _robbing _the Konoha hospital? Interesting.

"What?" She blinked, owlishly. I shook my head and activated my sharingan. The sooner we got this done, the better.

"Let's go."

-X-

Twenty minutes later, a mesmerized nursed was sliding her keycard through the automated lock of the thick, double-doors that led to a germ lab. Ino ran in first, holding the one door ajar for me with her sandaled foot. I put my hand on the nurse's shoulder and bent down.

"Now walk away and busy yourself with whatever you were doing before you saw us. You don't remember seeing us, or leading us here." I whispered into her ear. The brunette nodded, her teal eyes still glazed over as she turned around and walked away, still in a trance, controlled entirely by my unwavering will. She would have no memory of this when she snapped back into her usual self. It was typical hypnosis, and the sharingan made it so much easier to play tricks on people's minds. I felt bad for doing it, but it would be worth it to see the destroyed look on Yamanaka's face when he realized he was _actually _shitting himself at home when he was supposed to be at a club, grinding against Sakura. I smirked, because I felt justified and slid into the doorway of the germ lab.

"Be careful not to knock anything over…" Ino whispered, a paranoid hint to her tone.

She had already donned a pair of sterile gloves and was rifling through a clear, glass cooling container, set at the perfect temperature for the different bacteria and viri inside.

"Okay… I found the one…" She pulled out a tiny vial from the container, and another tiny vial from a seal I didn't notice she had on her left wrist. She dumped half of the contents of the container-vial labeled "X2KXZ" into the one she pulled from her seal. Good thing she came along because I would have stolen any vial and probably would have given her cousin an incurable disease just like she said, which is not what I wanted, of course. She filled the container-vial up the rest of the way with water when she was done stealing the virus from it, dried it off against her skirt and placed it back where it belonged, turning it just slightly so no one would notice it had even been moved. She had a good eye for detail; that was for sure.

"If they decide to do any tests with it, it'll still be potent enough. There's more than enough of this stuff in these vials to make someone sick or to experiment with. No one will ever know…"

She seemed to be assuring herself, and I grimaced, realizing Ino was not even remotely partial to crime. This was probably her first time doing anything illegal… I felt like an oddity all of a sudden and wondered how and when had theft and other minor offenses become a normality for me…

"What's the sickness?" I asked just because I was curious.

"Nausea and diarrhea. Minor stomach flu. It'll be enough to keep him in bed for a few days. Besides, he deserves it right? He was _totally _going to play Sakura… I don't care if she's strong enough to play his stupid game… he should know better than to mess with my best friend…" She hissed at the vial, more to herself than me, again reassuring herself that what she was doing was simply justice and not, well, _evil_.

That honestly made me wonder if I was a bad influence… I probably was. I convinced her to steal from the hospital she used to help out at… that was pretty bad if you ask me.

Regardless, we snuck out of there, Ino whispering that she'd go out to dinner with her cousin that night and slip the virus into his food. Yuck. I suddenly felt bad for him. But then I remembered how much of a two-faced card-player he was and smirked. Good. Diarrhea and vomiting can keep him busy for a few days while I hopefully succeed in getting Sakura to be disinterested in him. Actually, it was a good thing Ino had conned me into taking Sakura out for a night. It was a good thing she told me I didn't have to openly state it was a date either, because this way, I can just… I don't know, give her an opportunity to be interested in someone else (?); Someone better who won't just screw her and leave her because they have a thing for accomplished women (?). I don't know I haven't thought that far ahead yet, but I had a good feeling that this would work out. Ino and I had taken to the roof tops and we had just arrived at her clan's compound. And what do you know… Yamanaka was _just _coming home, smirking at the tickets in his hand like a sorry asshole that didn't know what was about to hit him. It was actually dinner time, so Ino's plan would work… hopefully. I handed her a paper seal.

"Pour your chakra into this. The circle on the paper will turn green, then red." I explained as she took the paper from me. "If you were successful, just turn it green. If you failed, turn it red and we'll come up with something else." She nodded.

"Good plan." Then she smirked. "Maybe you should go to the club with her instead… Sai and I will still go, you know. Besides, Sakura's still going to go because Suchiru will most likely tell her to go. You know that right?" She looked at me skeptically, guessing that I hadn't thought I that.

I glared at her. That was something I _definitely _didn't think through… Would Yamanaka really still give her the tickets and tell her to have fun? Actually… he probably would. What did he care if she fell for another guy or slept with another guy that night? All he was out for was what was between her legs. And knowing Sakura, she would probably think he was being "sensitive to her freedom" or some B.S. like that and she would actually _like _that about him. Disgusting. Yeah. I would have to go, or I would have to make Kakashi or Naruto go. Or Ino would have to convince someone else to go in Yamanaka's stead.

"I don't go to things unless I'm invited." I stated. And Ino stared blankly back at me. I sighed. She didn't get it. "Sakura will know something's up if I invite myself. She's not stupid." I clarified and then she got it. Her mouth shaped into an "o" as the epiphany struck her. Then, she put a hand on her chin.

"Okay… We can work around that… maybe I can convince her somehow." She plotted, holding the paper I gave her to her chin. I had the paper's twin in my pocket and wrapped my fingers around it tightly.

"Don't be obvious about it." I warned.

She giggled and winked at me in a sly, fox-like manner.

"Sasuke-kun…" She practically cooed. "You don't have to worry about me messing _that _part up, honestly." And she shunshinned away, so I did too. Once I was back in my neighborhood and at my apartment, I heard loud voices behind Sakura's door.

"NO! BAKA! HOW COULD YOU KILL ME! GAH!" It was Sakura. She sounded pissed.

"HAHAHAHAHAH! YOU LOSE AGAIN SAKURA-CHAN! Oh hey! Teme's back!" Naruto. That was definitely Naruto.

And I didn't even have time to make an escape before Naruto pushed open Sakura's door and grabbed me by my anbu vest, dragging me in when I wasn't even invited, not like I could run from him after he noticed me, anyway. I dug my heels into the ground at the entrance, because there was no way in hell I was walking into someone else's house with my shoes on. That kind of disrespect was reserved for missions and assholes.

"Oh yeah, you still have your shoes on. I think Sakura-chan has an extra controller! Maybe we can have a three-way battle!" He started raving about, kami-sama help me, I don't really know what.

"No, _Naruto_! Sasuke probably wants to change before we go, now come back, the CPU is boring to fight against!" She snapped.

I felt odd being in such a familial and warm scenario. Sakura was sitting in front of her TV on her plum couch, mashing away at a device I had never seen before. On the screen some scantily-dressed, blonde female character holding an umbrella jumped around and fought against an impossibly muscular character in a karate uniform. And Naruto was holding a device matching hers, frowning at her back as he kept his one hand on my vest.

… … …What was going on here?

"Oh right, would you rather shower before we all go have ramen, teme?" Naruto asked and I realized he was wearing his father's "yondaime" coat that flowed to the floor. His usual black and orange attire was underneath it and he was wearing an ear-to-ear grin that nearly _blinded _me. I must have looked confused… we were having ramen tonight? Who planned this? What if I'd rather eat to-go food or something? Seriously, these two never asked questions, they just did as they pleased. Somehow, that fact managed to both annoy and win me over at the same time. I shook my head. I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Let me shower." I replied to him and he let go of my vest and nodded.

"SHANNARO! SHINEH!" Sakura interrupted our conversation and we both turned to look at her.

_Seeeeei-ha! _The female character screamed on-screen and I shook my head as Naruto laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"It's actually fun for a kid's game, teme. You should play with us when we get back…" He offered.

"Right…" I turned around and went into my apartment to get cleaned up. I still smelled like I had just competed in an anbu exam.

-X-

LOL I think I like this Sasuke/Ino teamwork. They're both evil when they set their minds to it. Review and let me know what you guys think.

Disclaimer: Naruto ™ is not owned by me. This work is fan-made and is just for shits and giggles. I don't make any money writing this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	6. Stupid Sake

KISEKI |6| **PLEASE READ THE PARAGRAPH BELOW! **

Hey guys! Just wanted to thank you all for your reviews! A few _especially_ caught my attention, one specifically about the POV-switches. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT INPUT! Yes, the POV-switches are choppy. I realized that only after I received that review! I'm going to do my best on working on that. I'll try to alternate chapters; one Sakura chapter, another Sasuke chapter. The only thing I can see being compromised by that kind of restriction is the length of chapters, only because I'm so plot-focused and excited to get to the _good_ parts that it drives me nuts to write idle chapters. That might seem whiny to you guys, but believe it or not, I end up procrastinating when I write what I feel like is filler, so I might not be so quick with updates and that _kills _me!

Anyway, I might try to split one chapter into _a lot _of Sakura and then afterwards _a lot _of Sasuke. I don't know how I'm going to do juicier POV's, but I at least know I'm going to center the story mostly around the main pairing. From now on, unless the **plot** specifically requires the POV of another character for a brief segment, there will only be Sakura and Sasuke. Again, sorry about the choppiness! Also, let me know if I'm writing Sasuke correctly. That's my biggest fear: not writing "man" enough. I've done a lot of research insert Jiraiya's pervy face here on how men interact with each other, and how their brains and thought processes work. I really hope I have enough information to write Sasuke correctly. If his POV _sounds _a lot different from Sakura's in a good way, PLEASE let me know in a review. If it doesn't and they sound the same, let me know as well. This story is a big "comfort and expansion" experiment as well as something I've had in my head for a while and I have _big_ plans for it. I don't want to screw up the experience for you guys by not writing to the best of my capabilities! Again, thank you _all _so much for your input and help and constructive criticism! *hearts* I love you all :3 I really do.

P.S. I just went back and rewatched the Naruto Shippuden: Bonds movie. OHMYGOSH! The artwork was great. And it also helped me get a better perspective of all the characters. I'm going to make it a point to rewatch important episodes and things to _really_ grasp the characters correctly!

-X-

When I walked out of my shower, I felt slightly nervous. I hadn't been in the same room with Naruto and Sakura in… _years_… I think the last time I saw them was at my official reinstatement as a Konoha shinobi... three years ago. If I remember correctly, Naruto and I ended up drinking that entire night while Sakura had left for a long mission right after the paperwork and small celebration was completed in Tsunade's office. At the time I refused to speak to anyone, especially Sai and I was angry with Kakashi for offering his support. I was akin to a rabid dog… Things changed so much… I wonder if Nii-san would be happy…

I found myself hoping that I wouldn't feel awkward as I zipped up my regular, black, high-collared Uchiha tunic. Afterwards, I tucked my standard nin pants into my tall boots, dried my brother's necklace around my neck and my hair the rest of the way with my towel and threw the fluffy blue cloth into the overflowing hamper. Fuck. I would have to do laundry soon. The Laundromat lady across the street hated me and I didn't feel like literally dragging my dirty laundry across all of Konoha to go to the Laundromat at the other side of town. I sighed and ran a hand through my still-damp hair, wiping the excess moisture on the side of my thigh. My hair was my mother's, I noted absently. It was thick, dark and straight.

Anyway, I'll just have to stay at the laundromat that entire hour that I _do _do my laundry and just make sure the woman doesn't pour bleach all over my clothes… again. I rolled my eyes at the memory of the first time she did it as I walked through my apartment and shoved my keys and the little slip of blank paper from before into my pockets. I shut the door behind me, took a breath and raised my hand to knock on the door. Sakura opened it before my knuckles made contact with the discolored wood. I looked at her. She was wearing her usual haruno tunic and form-fitting nin pants. I could see a bit of her cleavage thanks to the _stupid _v-neck of her shirt. I forced my eyes _not _to focus on what my peripheral vision was _trying _to make me stare at, but they ended up staring into her eyes and at her lips, which were just as enticing, anyway.

"You don't have to knock." She smiled. "Just walk in, Sasuke. Naruto does it all the time." She shrugged a delicate shoulder and I found that all I could respond with was a silent nod as she turned around. I kicked off my shoes and followed her again, like a lost dog, because I didn't want to just stand there in the doorway. I _had_ to get a grip. This was _Sakura_ for fuck's sake. I had rejected her, broken her heart, and discarded her. There was _no _way in hell she still wanted me. She was supposed to be a _friend_ nothing more, so _why_ was my mind _begging_ for me to fucking analyze her in a sexual way? Kami-sama knew I already realized that she has a nice ass. Didn't I deserve somewhat of a break for fixing our friendship, for fighting for her even if she didn't realize what I was doing behind the scenes? Sometimes I wondered if sex was as much of a burden on a man as emotions were a burden on a woman.

We sat on the couch and Sakura picked up her device. I heard Naruto call it a "controller" which made sense because you were technically "controlling" your character on the screen, like a puppeteer used chakra threads to control his puppet. It was interesting and I briefly wondered if the inventor studied puppeteering in order to achieve this sort of technology. I was too aware of how close we were all sitting on Sakura's ridiculously comfortable, plum couch. All of our shoulders were touching and I could feel the muscles in Sakura's arms tense as she mashed buttons and mumbled curses under her breath.

"Damn it, Niseria, you're too fucking slow, why do you _suck!?_"

Naruto chuckled because he had heard her.

"She's not slow, you just suck at this game."

"It's _my_ game that _I _bought! How are you better at it than _me_ if you don't even fucking play it as much as I do!?"

I heard the controller crack as Sakura tightened her angry grip on it. I wasn't really entertained though, if I was honest, I would say that I was staring _through _her controller.

Me being physically attracted to Sakura was a big problem… I thought about the first time I had even had sex. It was almost like an _itch_ that needed to be scratched, kind of like how I was starting to change in regards to Sakura. It was like there was some demon in my mind, constantly whispering about how nice it would be to stick it into something warm and slick. That was when I was fifteen. I had just _snapped_. It was after a rough training session with Orochimaru. There was so much adrenaline and testosterone in my body. SO many _fucking _hormones… Jacking off did me no good. So I did what Kabuto did when he was feeling weird. I went for a walk to the nearest town, intending on drinking and maybe finding someone to bed for the night. By then the two snakes had learned not to tail me so I left saying I'd be back in the morning. I found myself in front of a brothel after about an hour, not because I'd actually _pay _for sex. Give me some credit, here. I just, I don't know, I looked up.

Now here, I started to feel bad. I wasn't _completely _gone back then; I still had a heart and a sense of honor. There were women on display behind these wooden bars in front of the brothel. They wore brilliantly colored and flashy kimonos. I wasn't attracted to that. What I was attracted to was the nervous girl about my age who looked like she had been kidnapped. Her kimono was white with silver cranes. She looked afraid and the old, ugly guy with a beer belly next to me was leering at her. I could practically _see_ the drool starting to form at the corner of his disgusting lips. I did what any pissed-off kid on a power trip would do. I punched him right in the balls, because really, what could he do to fight back? After he recovered from the crippling hit, he was _livid_. I had seen wasps that looked friendlier than him after he got to his feet, one hand still on his sore crotch. He had moved to try to hit me back, but I had hit him with genjutsu before he even raised his fist. Just a tiny pulse of chakra to my eyes and he was on the floor, unconscious in seconds. The girl, the one I _knew_ was as much of a virgin as me, looked surprised. I still remember her soft, well-shaped face. She had large, pale-blue eyes and silky, light-blue hair. I had never seen someone like her. I walked in and genjutsued my way into the display case. I picked her out and took her to the room the brothel servants gave us.

I hadn't planned on having sex with her, initially. Honestly. I was actually in the process of planning on getting her out of there, as I surveyed the area surrounding the balcony. The front door was a big "no" because as soon as I entered to retrieve her about twenty trained rogue nin had showed up to guard the front doors after the commotion and the usage of my chakra. Thankfully, they hadn't investigated further into it. They just moved the guy I knocked out into the bushes. I counted how many guards there were to prevent an escape. There were a lot. There was one positioned every five feet and they had formed a square around the brothel. It would be hard to take them all on while I protected the nameless girl I had brought here. Were my eyes strong enough to put them all under genjutsu? At that point, not yet. Now? It would have been easy work, but not back then… not fifty or more men. _Maybe_ it would have been feasible if they were civilians, but they had carried weapons and kunai. They were all rogue nin with a decent amount of chakra to their advantage. They weren't exceptional, skills-wise but the chances of them being able to cancel out genjutsu and chase us through the night were statistically high.

I remembered how just after that thought, I had felt her small hands on my shoulders. My whole body went rigid. _No one _touched me like that. It was too… _personal_. But she was gentle. Was she afraid of me, I wondered? I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I turned around. She was completely naked, standing in a way where her hair flowed just long enough to cover her assets up top, her legs pressed slightly together. I think I swallowed. I don't remember. She was about my age so she was curvy, but not _really _curvy. She was thin and had no muscle on her. She was a civilian. What the _hell _was she doing there? Naked with me? That wasn't the place for her. I had turned red. That was the first time my face felt hot and the blood pounded in my ears in an entirely new way.

"You didn't have to do that." She whispered softly amongst the distant sounds of pain and sex that could be heard throughout the building. Dumbly, I had shrugged in response, because I didn't trust my voice yet. What else was I supposed to do? I didn't know _what_ to do. When a naked girl is standing there, holding onto you with her hands, and you don't know what you're doing…what the _fuck_ is next on the itinerary? There was no sensei that taught me about sex and how to have it. My whole life I had been training to kill someone as viciously and violently as possible. At that time, that… that was a different experience…

I realized my eyes kept flicking down to her generous breasts and the soft, light-blue hairs protectively covering her yet unseen female bits. I turned away, heart thudding so loudly I swear even she probably heard it. You didn't need ninja training to realize I had been new to seeing someone like _that_. However, I didn't feel alone. She was blushing too and I could see her pulse beating like a drum at her neck. At some point she had slipped her hands off of my shoulders. I didn't even notice when. She was digging her nails into her palm and I _swear_ she was slightly shaking, but I could _smell_ what I normally wasn't supposed to smell from her and maybe… maybe _she_ was ready to go too. But at that point, I wasn't listening to those thoughts. I had always had a firm grip on thoughts like that, thanks to having to resist the whisperings of the curse seal for years now.

"You should put your clothes back on." I used my "asshole" tone because I didn't know how to deal with her or myself that moment. I wasn't Sasuke at that point. I was just… emotionless. I wanted to shut down before I did something regretful. You would too, if you were morally conflicted. I was fifteen. I was supposed to be focusing on killing my brother. The babies could and probably would come later. But I remember contemplating… if she wanted me and I wanted her, what was wrong with _that_? Just do it.

"You're a ninja…" She whispered lightly and I could feel her eyes roaming over me.

I didn't respond. What do you say to that? You tell me. I was having trouble. Should I look at her, or continue looking at the wall? If I look at her, I'll probably touch her. If I look at the wall, I _might _just shunshin away... _might_…

"I'd rather be taken by someone kind and strong who had thought of my well-being than someone with no honor or no looks for that matter... There's no way to get me out of here, you know…" She reasoned. We were there, together. And we both knew the other wasn't a bad person. Why _not_ have sex? Logic agreed with what she was saying. But my morals advised me to just walk away. _Just walk away, Sasuke. _But what was I going to do? Take up her time that night and worry about her the next night? Worry about some ugly old man shoving his penis into her, raping her and breaking her when she didn't _want _any of that and she wanted this _now_? I wouldn't hurt her. She knew that. I knew that.

"There might be…" Because, I could probably finagle a way to free her if she would just _fucking _put her clothes back on and let me _think_.

"You came by this place for a reason…" She persuaded.

"No, I was on a walk."

"You looked at me for some reason…" She continued.

"…" I don't fucking know. I really didn't.

"Just relax… it was meant to be… please? And she touched my face with a warm hand. That "please" was what killed me. It was what convinced me. Who was the last person I said "no" to when they said "please"? Sakura… Sakura had begged me to stay… And I said no… I would say yes this time… and only because it would spare her the extra pain later… only because maybe the next time; she'd remember my face instead of some other asshole's…

I didn't remember much else after that except the pleasure. Clothes flew off. She pulled me to the bed. I touched her probably _everywhere_ because she was the softest, warmest thing I'd touched since… I don't remember. I briefly remember breaking her and how she held on until she was okay to move, how I'd kissed her to apologize. She even took a short nap to heal from the first time we did it. We had sex a couple of times that night…

In the end, when my head was cleared, I didn't want to give up. The least I could do was take her away from there, at least that's what I was thinking at the time. In case you're wondering, no I didn't love her, because I didn't know her enough to love her, but I loved how intimate sex was with her. She was enjoying herself as much as I was and that's what sex should be like. She had taught me _everything_ about I needed to know that night; how to make sure I didn't get anyone pregnant, and how to make someone feel good. Some older whore had told her because she had no idea before she wound up there, either. Because of her, I learned what I wanted from a woman as well, as far as the sheets were concerned, of course. I learned that I was still human and I was still capable of being gentle. I remembered that I wasn't completely a beast; despite the numerous amount of times the seal made me transform into one. I could still be decent to people who deserved it. She refused to go with me and argued that my plan was reckless. Looking back, it was _completely _reckless. She had told me that she was paying off a medical debt from some doctor that had treated her younger sister…

That had pissed me off. She didn't deserve a future of sleeping with assholes like that guy I had punched outside because she was paying off a fucking doctor for two years. Who the _fuck_ put a price on life and health?

We had argued even more after she said that. I asked her why she didn't just run, instead. Her father was healed. How could her father let her get taken _away_? She had turned out to be less intelligent than I initially thought. She was beautiful, but so stupid and vapid, it almost made me regret _everything_. I kissed her, angrily, yes, but I did and I left, never looking back. She _wouldn't_ turn her back on her family… and all I could think of was how far people would go for their family… and just how in the hell had my brother been able to kill everyone and just go?

Guiltily, I remembered how I thought that Itachi was a different breed of monster that night. I was so stupid… and so wrong…

"Sasuke?"

What? Sakura's voice was _hauntingly _gentle... I looked up.

"Mn?" I snapped back to reality and pulled my mind completely away from that memory. Sakura was holding the controller out to me. I looked at it and then back at her.

"You look pale, maybe we should just go and eat…" with one last concerned once-over, she turned her head to Naruto, who was giving me an analytical look. I stared blankly back at him, because I didn't want him to read me like a book. The dobe could and he _would_ if he had to.

"Yeah, we'll take the long way to Ichiraku's. That will give Sai enough time to get there and Kakashi-sensei's always late anyway so whatever. It'll work out, somehow." He wisely didn't press the issue of my thoughts.

That's right, Naruto. Everything always worked out somehow. For better or for worse. I nodded in agreement and stood up, more than ready to walk and get something else onto my mind, like that fucking Yamanaka getting what he deserved tonight. Sakura shut her TV off and I took the lead in leaving her apartment, like I always walked ahead when we were younger… Hn, old habits die hard, I guess. Naruto flicked off the lights after we all put our shoes on and we left for Ichiraku's.

While walking through town, a few civilians smiled at us here and there. I felt weird and out of place, like I didn't deserve to be there with both Naruto and Sakura after what I'd done to them. Naturally, they both reassured me things were okay in their own ways. Sakura babbled about how "cute" Shikamaru and Temari have been acting, naturally, and Naruto cackled, the comment reminding him of something. He shot me a mischievous glare and I decided that I hated his new-found strategic thinking. Whatever was going to come out of his mouth next was going to piss me off…

"So, I heard you have a date tomorrow, Sakura-chan…"

And I shot a glare at Naruto over Sakura's head. The _last _thing I wanted to do was talk about Sakura's _stupid _date that I planned on crashing and ruining. Furthermore, just how in the _hell_ did he know it bugged me? I watched with my peripheral vision as Sakura rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Ino hasn't been able to shut up?" She drawled.

"Can you blame her? All Sai and her do is hang out at his apartment." Naruto shrugged, as if that _didn't _put weird images in either my or Sakura's head. Naruto was really ignorant and at times like these I wondered if he was being like that to _purposefully _skeeve me out. Because personally, I did _not _want to look at Ino the next time I saw her and have the knowledge that she fucks her boyfriend _a lot _on her spare time creep up on me.

Sakura smacked Naruto across the shoulder, to which Naruto gave her a dejected look for in response.

"What was that for?" He grumped, crossing his arms.

"Ugh, nevermind." Sakura replied with an annoyed expression of defeat on her face.

And then I suddenly got it… Naruto hadn't… Naruto hadn't had sex with anyone yet. I mean, yeah we talked about who we _would _fuck sometimes but he always avoided the topic of who we _did_ fuck… I mean I don't blame him, he's my brother an all but I didn't want to know his dirt and he didn't want to know mine. Anyway, as odd as that was with his "hero" status, it made sense; the Hyuuga were traditional and he _was _dating Hinata in pseudo-secret so everything clicked. Great. Now I had in-depth knowledge of not only one, or two, or even _three_, but **four** people's personal bedroom lives—or lack thereof—that I didn't want in the first place… great. Actually, make that five, because now I was _sure_ Sakura wasn't a virgin either. When the _fuck_ had she gotten busy and with _who, _more importantly?

Bad thoughts, Sasuke. Bad thoughts.

"Oh look, Sai's already there!" Naruto interrupted as he pointed down the busy street.

I never thought I would hear myself thinking this, but really, thank kami-sama for Sai. Naruto ran ahead leaving me and Sakura to trail over at a regular pace.

"Sorry, Naruto's—

"A virgin." I finished for Sakura. I shrugged, not realizing how bluntly I spoke. To each his own.

"Um, I was going to say 'dense' but yeah, what you said works too." She replied, half-laughing and I felt my face heat up.

Fuck. What compelled me to interrupt her with my_ stupid _big mouth? Now I looked about as perverted as Kakashi. I composed myself as we walked up to the stand and ducked under the short, navy curtains. The warm lights felt nice on my skin. Not wanting to start off on a bad foot, I nodded at Sai and offered a quiet "yo". He stuck out his hand, a small smile on his face. I shook it firmly. He firmly shook back. That was a good handshake. Sai wasn't a bad guy. You can tell what kind of a man a man is in two ways: By his handshake and by the way he fights. Believe it or not, a lot of communication is passed between people when they spar or when they shake hands. I could tell I was on thin ice with Sai and Sai could tell I didn't give a shit. Somewhere in that subtle communication, we found an agreement and stuck to it for Naruto and Sakura's sake. We all sat down at the growing business' stand. There were twelve seats at the bar and the kitchen had grown bigger since I was last here with Naruto a few months ago. Sai took the first seat, closest to the wall, Naruto sat next to him, followed by myself, then Sakura.

"Ah welcome! Well isn't today a special day! Where is Hatake-san?" Teuchi greeted us as he turned away from his pot of broth. The man was as hardy and happy as ever.

"Yo!" A distinct flare of chakra alerted us to Kakashi, who was surprisingly early and cheerful…weird. "Well if it isn't _all_ of my cute, little students! Today _is_ a special day, Teuchi-san."Kakashi spoke as Ayame, who was more pregnant than the last time I saw her, walked through the kitchen, pulling out a bottle of sake for each of us. She placed a small sake cup in front of all of us and smiled.

"Dinner's on the house today!" She grinned, specifically at me, and I might have given a tiny smile in response. No doubt they were rewarding Naruto for _finally _herding all of us over here like he probably promised a million people he'd do. I smiled to myself at that. Naruto was a little more calculating, but he was still Naruto.

"Ah! Ayame-san! Four months already!?" Sakura, ever the medic, was probably accurate since Ayame blushed and nodded.

"Sharp as ever, Sakura-san." Ayame commented back cheerfully as she touched her stomach. People always touched the things you pointed out to them. Shinobi were taught not to do that. It was a difficult habit to break.

Sakura looked like she wanted to ask another question, but I saw the gentle shake of her head as she stopped herself.

"Boy or girl?" She asked instead. I wondered what the next question was going to be: "who" maybe?

"A surprise." Ayame beamed in response.

"Make sure to stop by the hospital regularly!" Sakura commented as she poured herself some sake. Ayame nodded and moved to help her father, as Naruto called out his order of a large miso with extra naruto. Sai wanted a spicy miso with extra menma and Sakura ordered a spicy miso but with extra naruto as well. Kakashi wanted a regular miso with extra beef so I ordered just a regular miso. I didn't need extra of anything. I would try to start a drinking contest between myself and Sakura, but the last thing a pregnant woman and her father needed tonight was a belligerent kunoichi and her asshole not-ex-anymore-teammate having a drunken discussion that might lead to a fight. So I was limiting this visit to this single bottle of sake.

"I have something to talk to you guys about." Sai spoke up. We all looked at each other, and then at him.

"It needs to stay secret." He stressed as he sipped on his sake cup, and Sakura nodded.

"Spit it out." Naruto urged, because he hated waiting for something that clearly _felt _like big news.

"I want to propose to Ino." He revealed and the sake got caught in Sakura's throat. I patted her back awkwardly as she coughed it out and took deep breaths.

"W-w-wait a second!" She coughed again. "Jashin-_damn it,_ Sai you're trying to kill me…" She coughed once more and I simultaneously clapped her back extra hard for good measure. She shot me a glare before she turned her head back towards Sai.

"I think it's a great idea." Naruto offered, always the optimist, but there was an edge to his tone, he was waiting for everyone else's input before he revealed his _actual _input... a tactic that Tsunade taught him, no doubt. It was refreshing to know they were delving in to the nuances of politics. Naruto was piss poor in politics and trickery.

"Says the hypocrite who won't claim what's his…" I mumbled calculatingly as a direct jab to his feigned optimism and Naruto shot me a dangerous look, and Sakura shot glances at the both of us, coming to her own conclusions. My words were vague enough that only Naruto and anyone _heavily _involved in his personal business would understand. Kakashi and Sai remained quiet, watching us all like the anbu they were.

"Now, are you _sure_ you want to marry her?" Sakura asked in a no-nonsense tone of voice, and I wondered just when the _hell_ had she gotten so _political?_ I thought she'd want to defend Ino and instead force him to go buy a ring right now. "Because, you shouldn't marry her just because _she_ wants you to. You should marry her because _you_ want to spend the rest of your life with her." No, she had just matured; grown up. I forgot again. I think it's the color of her hair that makes me remember _too _well how she used to be.

We all let her words sink in, each man making his own thoughts on what she said, being Ino's closest friend and all. It was good advice, but she wasn't done. "Life, Sai. For. Life. Not for three days, not for three months, not for three years, but possibly for three decades or even more than that, kami-sama willing. You guys have only been dating for what, two years?" That really put things into perspective. If we were judging the "proper time to marry" by how long you've known or been with a person for, I'd probably _never_ get comfortable enough to marry.

"You think I should wait and see." Sai commented back, his face blank. It was a fact. Naruto stared at him hard. Sakura did too. She nodded, because he technically called her out on her bullshit.

"I would wait too." Kakashi spoke, and Naruto snorted. "Of course you would kaka-sensei, you've been waiting for how long, already? You don't even have a girlfriend." Naruto blurted disrespectfully, but no one took it that way, not even Kakashi himself. That was just Naruto. And again, I noticed the opportunity he gave Kakashi to come clean about having a girlfriend.

I smirked at that, and I caught the slight twinkle in Sakura's eyes. Naruto was cunning in his own way, I'll give him that. It was a well-placed verbal trap. A few beat passed, but Kakashi just shrugged. He didn't take Naruto's bait and now I was sure Kakashi knew that we knew… _all _of us. He seemed to be eyeing me, as if he was internally surprised that I somehow knew. Hah. He didn't expect me to know. Teamwork, Kakashi. Teamwork. You had taught us that yourself. I gave him a half-smirk in response.

"I think Kakashi-sensei can wait as long as he wants. Life is short." Sakura filled the minimal silence with a factual statement and shrugged and I realized what she meant by that. She would rather not be tied down and experience what she could whenever she could. Shinobi tended to drop like flies. Kakashi wasn't one of those kinds of shinobi, but it was a fact anyway. We all had an expiration date. The next mission could be the end of it.

"But life is short, so if Sai wants a wife, he should go get one." Naruto interjected, using Sakura's words against her; again, another political trick. His _real _opinion was overly-optimistic anyway. I had no room to open my mouth because I didn't know Sai or Ino enough to say anything on the matter. So I sat there, quietly and listened for someone else to either comment or change the subject.

"What do you think, traitor?"

I nearly spat my sake out. What the _fuck_ did he just call me!? I tensed to spring up and get in his face, but I felt a hand on my thigh, and _fucking hell_ it hurt when the fingers squeezed just above my knee! My back went rigid and my eyes slid to look at Sakura. It was her hand that was on the verge of snapping my fucking femur, and she was giving me a look. _Shut. Up._ That was the look. Actually, no, _move and I'll fucking break your leg_ was the look. She didn't want to have to disassemble any fights tonight. So I indulged her, I don't know why. I guess it's because I had ruined enough shit for her in the past, so I decided to trust her judgment instead of my feelings, held my anger and just glared at Sai instead.

"Do you love her?" I answered him seriously and Sakura's hand slid off of my thigh when she was sure I had my head back in the right place. It was funny how things could be so similar to when we were younger, but so different. She knew what my mind worked like, but she acted completely differently towards me this time around. Had it been eight years ago she probably would have let me fuck Sai up without doing much but shouting "Sasuke-kun". I couldn't help but feel awkward now as I waited for Sai to respond, slightly, because I knew Kakashi had seen what she did.

"Yes." Was the easy reply.

"Then do what you feel is best, dickhead. If you _feel_ it's right, do it. If you're nervous and aren't sure, don't. My guess is that you consulted us first because you're _not_ sure if now is the time. So wait, if it's not." And I went back to drinking my sake as Sai nodded. I kept glaring at Sakura from the side, the whole time Naruto and Sai were arguing about whose penis was bigger. Defiantly, Sakura knocked back her glass in a masculine way and I narrowed my eyes. I wouldn't start with her tonight. I would just have to let the "traitor" nickname slide, besides I had nicknamed Sai too. But what he labeled me wasn't a lie, either when you thought about it. I was a traitor at some point in my life and if anything, it was just a fact. I betrayed Konoha. I was a traitor. Back then. Not anymore. If I'm not a traitor anymore, then the nickname shouldn't bother me. I stopped seeing red after looking at the situation logically. _Yes, _I would have fucked up this whole outing if I decided to chidori Sai's face in at that exact moment. Sakura was right in stopping me. I looked over at Kakashi who shook his head and I sighed.

"I HAVE A DICK! STOP CALLING ME DICKLESS!" Naruto suddenly screamed and I heard laughter outside of the restaurant.

Oh. So Sai had a rude nickname for almost _all_ of his friends. That was just his thing. Okay. Sakura: 1. Sasuke: 0. Round: over.

"And Sakura is not ugly, but I still call her ugly. It was the first nickname I came up for her. It's sentimental." Sai defended and Sakura grabbed her head as I snickered. I could see how she would have gotten pissed at that the first time it was said to her.

"I still doubt you even know what 'sentimental' means!" Naruto shot back, fuming. "Why 'dickless' of all things!?"

"I don't remember." Came the easy, but honest response.

"Well, fuck you." And the future rokudaime of Konoha just gave Sai the finger.

"If you were dickless you would want to."

I chuckled. I had to admit, that was a really good comeback. Naruto was fuming; I could practically see the steam escaping through his ears. I reached around Sakura and Squeezed his shoulder. He grabbed his hair and focused pettily on his sake. The support seemed to calm him down.

"Whatever." He mumbled and I let my hand slide off. "Hinata-chan loves me no matter what you douchebags say."

And just like that Naruto was smiling again. Our bowls of ramen were served just then and we all shouted the traditional blessing before we dug in. Not going to lie, I was _hungry_ after the mission, the stress over losing Yugao, the visit to Ino and the hospital heist. The ramen, though not my favorite meal, was delicious. I ate voraciously in response to the flavors hitting my tongue. And Sakura kept drinking, ignoring her food, as she stared off at some invisible point on the wall of the kitchen, too obviously lost in a memory. What was her deal? I looked as she was about to rudely drink straight out of the sake bottle, and I placed my hand flat over it. She was surprised, because the pressure of me pressing down on the bottle must have registered in her brain just then. She let me guide the bottle back down as she glared at me with a mix of annoyance and confusion.

"What?" She stressed, not understanding my reasoning for doing so. I cocked a confident brow in response.

"Revenge." I stated simply with a shrug. A moment later, and she knew what I was avenging: her fucking death grip had _hurt_. So I was going to hurt her back because I had a feeling she was dependent on alcohol. She just shrugged and started eating, giving up on the sake for now. I smirked. Sasuke: 1. Sakura:0. Round: Over.

"When do you want to spar?" I asked Sakura as Naruto and Sai talked about Hinata. I decided to strike the conversation because I didn't care much for Naruto's trouble in Narutoland after he blatantly just ignored my every word of advice, not that I was qualified to give advice, concerning my troubled past, but still. A brother was a brother. A brother gave you your reality check when you needed it, and Naruto had ignored mine. Besides, Sakura and I still had to set up a time and a place to spar. I could tell she was itching to kick my ass for leaving her on a bench eight years ago, and I wanted to see how much of a badass Miss Anbu really was or wasn't compared to me.

"Um, two days." She replied, then slurped ramen noodles and crunched on some menma.

"Two days." I repeated, but I had a feeling that with Yamanaka's "illness" she was going to be seeing me earlier. Well… maybe. I honestly hoped she'd decide to come see me instead. It was pathetic and again, I wondered _why_ in the hell I had a thought like that, but I was enjoying my team's company. I had secretly, but genuinely _missed _being with them, so I wasn't going to ruin it with my own stupid thoughts about Sakura.

"Ugh I have to go shopping with Ino tomorrow." She groaned, as if she just remembered.

"Oh? You have a date?" Kakashi asked, and his one eye briefly slid to stare at me. Kakashi could be a dickhead too if he wanted to be. He knew I was going to hate this topic.

"Yeah it's a double date. Ino and Sai are coming." Sakura informed, but she didn't seem to really care so much. It was stated as a fact, so maybe her feelings weren't really invested in it?

"Eh? You're going too, Sai?" Naruto responded through a mouthful of noodles. Sakura pinched his skin with her nails through his jacket. His back straightened considerably and he swallowed before he continued speaking the next time. His manners would horrify the Hyuuga. I was starting to see why he wanted to wait to ask Hiashi for his eldest daughter's hand in marriage. Time won't help you though, Naruto, unless you enroll yourself in some sort of etiquette class for grown men, which I highly doubt exists… "Where are you guys going?" Naruto asked, without waiting for Sai to reply to his previous question.

"I believe a popular club in the Festival town just outside of Konoha." Sai responded professionally, as if it were a personal mission of his. He must not be the type for social gatherings. Didn't Naruto say root destroyed his emotions and he had just unblocked them during the war? He must still be learning how to just _be_. It's no wonder the social difficulty of going to something as wild as a club would put him in mission-mode. That was what every shinobi defaulted to when they found they couldn't or didn't know how to handle something: just treat it like a mission.

"Oh, who're you going with, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, but he already knew. He just wanted to hear Sakura say it and estimate her emotional reaction. Naruto's best weapon was his ability to read and connect with emotions. You couldn't hide from him. If he ever had children with Hinata, who had the byakugan that was rumored to be able to estimate emotion behind a stone mask on a person's face, the kids would be incredibly perceptive, I'd give him that.

"Ino's cousin." Sakura responded lightly. _No big deal, Naruto_. Was what she was trying to say.

"The one teme just went on a mission with?" Naruto had a big fucking mouth, I'll give him that. I could see the gears turning in Sai's head. He looked at me. Did Ino tell him what we did? He nodded at me. Yep. He knew. But mercifully, he wasn't going to say anything. I felt Kakashi's stare again, probably in reaction to my brief exchange with Sai, and I figured I'd have to tell him my strategy later. Somehow, the idea of telling him what I planned out made me nervous, but Kakashi wasn't the type to judge so I relaxed a little.

"Yeah, Suchiru-san." Sakura was getting annoyed because she could tell we were all communicating silently and _she _probably felt judged, or on edge because we were all protective of her to some degree.

"Oh, I thought he liked Yugao-san, no?" Stupid Naruto. Stupid.

All heads turned to me because I was recently on a mission with both of the people in question. This was my chance to discredit the bastard and never even give him a chance to recover, but I shrugged instead, because I couldn't talk about what happened on an s-class mission. Not even the details of Yamanaka's disgusting personality while on said mission could be mentioned. The attention was off of me as Sakura spoke.

"I don't know who he likes, but yes, Naruto he's my date tomorrow." She smiled and reaffirmed and I hated her for being excited to go out with that prick. I don't know why I was so agitated, probably because somewhere I had hoped she had standards higher than that asshole. Somewhere I really hoped she'd use him before he'd use her. I didn't and wouldn't ever know what was in her head and that seemed to also add to my aggravation. Did she know how he was and was just playing along for sex and free drinks like Kakashi said, or did she not know and really hoped he'd treat her right? Who knows?

I certainly don't fucking know.

But thinking about it logically, whether I ever found out or not wouldn't matter because their stupid date would _never _happen. As if to reinforce that thought my pocket tingled with Ino's energy and I smirked. Good. Either she had done it and succeeded, or failed miserably. If she failed, I'm pretty sure nothing would stop me from slipping into his room with a needle full of some other horrendous illness that very night. Sakura seemed blissful at the thought of him on way or another and I regretfully admit that I hated it. It made me angry and true to my lineage, my anger tended to make me insane.

I don't know how Itachi was somehow born different. When we were young, I _always_ knew when Itachi was mad. But he somehow _always _kept it together. Outou-san never failed to piss him off, but he never did anything. How? I don't get it. For me, when I got angry, it was like an itch that needed to be scratched. Just like sex. I needed to actually physically _do_ something about it. Movement and progression helped me. _Doing _helped me. I got nothing from just standing there and existing while I was mad, _or_ horny. Was I more of an animal than a man? But then again… men were animals, as were women. We were all mammals, actually. I shook my head. The sake was making me too contemplative.

After the dinner, Kakashi sensei bantered with us for a while and then disappeared. Tch. Probably went off to Kurenai's to avoid life as usual. Then, after his fifth bowl of ramen, Sai dragged Naruto in the direction of their apartments. Since Sakura and I lived in the same complex in the opposite direction, we said our goodbyes and then walked through the quiet streets together. We were silent and for the first time, I think Sakura actually appreciated the lack of verbal exchange. I wasn't surprised because it was a comfortable, companionable silence. What struck me, though, was that she was so different from when she was younger. If this was eight years ago she'd be trying to talk my ear off.

"Do you really want to focus on your chakra control, Sasuke?" Was the first hesitant question she asked. I felt bad that she was hesitant. She probably wasn't sure if I wanted to talk, but I did, so I responded.

"Yes." I replied easily. That sort of training would help me cover the areas of my training that were lacking. I would need to learn how to fine tune my chakra and its flow to not only improve my effectiveness in battle but also accomplish that poison-removal method I had copied off of Sakura with my sharingan, in case there was ever a need for it out in the field. There was peace amongst the nations now, but who knew what would happen in the next few years…

"Good, you'll need it if you want to save a teammate in the future." She responded and I nodded my agreement. Sometimes, Sakura seemed like a Yamanaka. She knew what was on my mind without really trying to know. It was interesting. But then I almost threw up my ramen as the vile image of blonde-haired-green-eyed babies assaulted my mind. Disgusting.

My next thought disgusting me more: He'd leave her if she ever got pregnant; he was the type. I stopped in my tracks just then, stunned. What if they _actually _fucked? It's not like you can actually _stop _someone from having sex if they really wanted to… Sakura knew how to prevent— that was a stupid thought. She was one of the best doctors in the _world. _Of course she knew how to avoid pregnancy. She wasn't _stupid_. I was being an idiot. I was being a total idiot and I don't know why.

Stupid sake.

"Sasuke?" She sounded confused. She had stopped a few feet in front of me and turned to face me. The moon was full and bright in the sky and bathed her hair in lunar light, as crappily poetic as that sounds, even to me. Anyway, her hair looked more silver than pink and she looked... sexy, twisted around like that. I had a great view of both her backside _and _the size of her breasts. I shook my head almost _too _violently.

Bad thoughts, Sasuke. Bad thoughts.

"It's nothing." And she nodded, walking ahead as I caught up to her. I decided to start a conversation. I wasn't much good at it, but I tried, because I remembered all the times that I rejected her when _she _must've felt isolated or lonely in her own way and tried to talk to _me _when we were kids. I don't know why I wanted to make amends for all of those times, but I did.

"You've been visiting the Uchiha graves." Now she stopped dead in her tracks, giving me a calculating look. I tensed a little, because she looked ready for a fight. She relaxed after she realized the reaction that had been ingrained into my brain, and I relaxed too a few seconds later. I felt much better now that I didn't feel like we were about to have a full-blown shinobi battle. She caught up to me and we continued walking.

"Yeah, I go to visit Obito-san. I'm surprised I haven't run into Kakashi-sensei yet." I paused because I knew there was more. "I didn't know your brother very well, but he's a hero too, so I send him prayers too… I hope you're not offended." She added cautiously.

"I'm not." I responded, because I really wasn't. If anything, I was happy that there were people out there that cared. I was just confused, because I didn't know why I was talking about this. This conversation had no logical goal. But I had no goal anymore either, so I went with it instead; reminding myself that change was good. It was what they taught me to do in therapy when I felt, _weird_ during the "healing process". Was I still healing, mentally and emotionally from everything? Probably. I would probably be healing for the rest of my life. There was a lot of thinking I had to do. I was just grateful that I still had people that cared to help me along the way. I can't believe I was hell-bent on erasing people like Sakura from my life. I can't believe I _actually _wanted to kill her at some point...

"Oh. Okay." And she quieted down again.

Minutes later, we passed by the laundry place. I gave it a disdainful look. Sakura noticed.

"What?" She asked and stopped, looking at the bubbles stuck onto the glass of the place. I chuckled, because it was stupid.

"Want to know something funny?" I asked her with a smirk. She looked at me owlishly, but nodded and smirked back a second later. I liked that look on her face, actually. It made her look like she was up to no good. It suited her whimsical color scheme in an ironic way that I particularly liked.

"Shoot." She spoke and crossed her arms.

"The lady who owns this place hates me. She says I cursed her business." And I snorted because I was still heavily buzzed and even the _idea_ of superstition was laughable.

"What? Why?" Sakura had narrowed her eyes. She didn't find it as funny as I did.

"Superstition." I shrugged. "Maybe fear."

"You're not a criminal anymore." There wasn't much emotion or inflection to her tone. She was stating a fact, nothing more. Her personal opinion of me was left out, probably because she didn't want to tell me how she felt about me. I understood that. She was probably hesitant about even being friends again. Maybe in her own way, she hadn't forgiven me completely and maybe she really didn't feel the same way about me as before and she just didn't want me to get the wrong idea and assume she still _did _love me. That was fine. I understood that. I wish she'd just be _normal_ like how she was around Naruto when I wasn't there. Surely, they were more lax around each other than when Sakura and I were around each other, no? Or maybe I'm just overthinking again. Stupid sake.

"No I'm not." I responded, agreeing. "I might just give her peace and go to the place across town instead." I shrugged, but Sakura smiled.

"She likes cupcakes."

"What?"

"Obaa-san Izumi likes cupcakes. Get her some and tell her you're sorry for whatever you did to make her uncomfortable. She's traditional so it should do the trick." Sakura offered and it was a genius idea.

"You picked up a few things from Ino." I smirked. "Cunning, Sakura."

"No, I'm just a great con artist when I have to be. It comes from being a shinobi, Sasuke." She coolly responded with little expression in her tone. Her voice sounded a bit darker and I wondered what kinds of missions she was sent on that dimmed that light she used to have about her. Sakura had always been "pure" in my mind. She had always been the one that was filled with love. She was always the one who hadn't been touched by darkness. But now I had to wonder… had Naruto and I filled her with darkness after everything happened? Nowadays, she was always destroying my memories of what I remembered her to be…

_And _I frowned at the lack of the honorific at the end of my name. I didn't know if it meant that she no longer viewed me as special, or if I had become more special to her instead. Confusing. Sakura was confusing. She had become an enigma that was completely beyond me. Was I always wrong about her or had she just changed after a lifetime of hardship? If she changed, then when? What event was it that changed her? Fuck it. I was near-drunk anyway. She'd excuse the next question…

"What changed?" I asked her. And that question seemed to apply to so many things, I was surprised it actually left my mouth. I only realized how deep the question was after it had left me. When had I gotten so slow? When had I stopped thinking about my words before I said them? Her eyes flitted all over my face. Left, right, up, somewhere behind my shoulder. She didn't like that. That was a wild card. Sakura was calculating. She didn't like things messing up her strategies. I smirked. Naruto was always the wildcard that messed up people's strategies. When had I picked up that trait? The changes between the three of us would never cease to surprise me…

But again, what changed between us? What changed about you? What changed in the village? What changed everyone? There were so many ways that question could be interpreted.

"What do you mean?" She did the smart thing and "innocently" asked for clarification, but I didn't feel like it was right to pick at healing scabs. This wasn't the topic to talk about tonight. I wouldn't tell her what was on my mind. Forget it. That was stupid. No more sake for me. No more.

"Just a dumb question. I surprised you." I smirked because I'll be damned if that Yamanaka's the only one that gets to do that to her. A slow grin spread across her face. She decked me in the shoulder and I winced, because it actually _hurt_.

"Gear up, Sasuke, because in two days I'm going to kick your ass." She threatened playfully and I liked the slightly husky tone to her voice. I could tell she had become dangerous over the years. Now, I don't want to sound like a pervert, but I _loved _danger. I think deep down, every ninja likes danger to some extent. It's psychological. It's a double-edged sword. No, you don't want to die, and you don't want any of your loved ones to die. But, deep down, nearly dying makes you feel the most alive. Fighting makes you appreciate yourself and all the work you've put into honing your skills and talents, and if you're fighting for what you believe is justice, then you appreciate yourself. Danger is good, because when you're alive and a particularly successful ninja, danger eventually equates to success in your brain. In other words, over time shinobi got fucked up in some way. I think it's how we notice another killer or another shinobi in our vicinity. Civilians were just… different. They were hard to reach out to; hard to understand because they simply don't deal with what we deal with on a regular basis. But a shinobi… you could practically see a haunting, fucked-up copy of yourself if you looked into a fellow shinobi's eyes. Anyone who took a life had _that specific_ _look_. And every shinobi had that instinct that kicks in that says _be careful. This one's just as dangerous as you are…_

"We'll see who kicks whose ass, Sakura…"I crossed my arms and she laughed haughtily and turned around. I caught up to her and we walked the rest of the short distance to the complex in that same companionable silence. Well, somewhat companionable. As the alcohol started to fade away, I realized how impatient I was to pull that stupid paper out of my pocket and see if Ino succeeded. I would somehow have to find her and plan further ahead tomorrow. Before I knew it, we were at our respective doors.

"I'm going to be at the hospital tomorrow, if anyone asks." No one would ask me, but it was nice of her to tell me anyway, because that way I knew I could just invite Ino over to talk. I nodded at Sakura. She grinned.

"Goodnight." And she moved to stuff her key into the lock. I smirked at the stained wood, remembering the tomato incident. I can't believe I was pissed enough to smear _tomatoes_ all over her door. She caught me looking and smirked.

"Ha. Ha. Yes, your tomato-artwork is _phenomenal_ Sasuke. I'm sure you can compete with Sai at the next art expo in Konoha." She drawled sarcastically and I shook my head in good humor.

"Goodnight." I stated instead and entered my own apartment. She shot me a smile before she darted inside and I shut my door behind me.

-X-

AWWWWWW TEAM SEVEN FINALLY REUNITES TO CELEBRATE WITH RAMEN, GUYS! IT'S SOOOOOO CUTE!

So I stuck to Sasuke in this chapter because I felt comfortable writing him. Next chapter will be all Sakura! Hit me up with reviews! Tell me what you love and what can be worked on! Oh my gosh! That thing where he confessed how he lost his virginity! That surprised even _me_. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ™ Is this really necessary for every chapter? I own nothing. NOTHING. I don't make any money writing this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	7. Changes

KISEKI

|7|

**Please read the **_**entire **_**chapter through, and the note at the bottom of the chapter, even if you decide you're not impressed. Please. **

-X-

It was three o'clock. I was humming to myself, waiting outside of the hospital for Ino, so we could go shopping already. The sun was shining and I was enjoying the warm breeze in the almost stifling air. I wasn't nervous for my date, or for going shopping; I was really just disinterested in having Ino reject every outfit I liked. I know her pickiness stemmed from a good place, I just had grown impatient to it in recent times. That was probably why my closet only consisted of ninja gear. I finished off the last of my orange popsicle, kicking my heels against the low stone wall surrounding the newly-built hospital. I saw Ino approaching and I smiled. She picked up her pace when she saw me, but… she wasn't smiling back.

Uh-oh.

"Hey, Sakura." She gave me a nervous smile, and I responded with a flat look as I threw my popsicle stick into a green trash can about seven feet away to my right, beneath the wall. Perect aim. It flew through the can dead in the center. Ignoring my miniscule accomplishment, I crossed my arms and hopped off the top of the wall, standing right in front of her when my feet hit the ground.

"What." I deadpanned. Because I wasn't feeling patient.

She cringed.

"Jeez, maybe having Sasuke live next to you was a worse thing than we initially thought." Ino frowned as I glared at her, but she was right. I had been spending more time with Sasuke since our truce. Maybe he was rubbing off on me; bad attitude included. I took a deep breath and tried to soften my expression. Ino got right down to business, thank god. Deep down, she knew how stressful the hospital was.

"Suchiru is sick. He came down with a stomach flu, Sakura, it's really bad." She blatantly stated, leaving me to gather the rest of the information. Our date was up in flames as if it were in the path of Sasuke's gokkakyu no jutsu. Well, fuck. My face fell and I became concerned for Suchiru, my inner doctor immediately wanting to see if there was anything I could do to salvage the situation.

"Should I help him?" I asked, digging worried nails into my palm.

"Shizune-san made the trip to the compound to take care of him, actually!" Ino assured with her hands up, a little too quickly, but I ignored that as she pulled the passes out and distracted me by waving them slightly. They were for the club we were going to: _Hofuku_ for "retribution".

"Suchiru says he wants you to go anyway. He bought your pass for you and he wants you to go even if it's without him; he told me to tell you." She explained and expectantly waited for my response.

I frowned at that. That wasn't right. It was supposed to be our first date… I mean, don't get me wrong, it was a really sweet gesture, but I just wasn't the type to go out while someone was sick and party without them. That just wasn't, _me._

"Ino…" I started. She should know how I am by now, really. I was genuinely interested in her cousin; did she really think I was going to piss his hard-earned money away without him there? I should've bought my own ticket… damn it.

"It's okay! I already started to ask around if someone will take the extra tickets, because Sai decided he didn't want to go either for some reason… so… I don't know… I mean, it's not the end of the world…" She offered in her "psychologist" tone that I only noticed she had adopted after the war.

What? It's "not the end of the world"? What was she talking about? And then, when I looked into her worried blue eyes, I realized she was concerned that after Sasuke, I was still afraid of rejection. She was worried that I thought this was all done on purpose to spit me and bully me. I laughed in her face to quell those thoughts. Come on, I'm Haruno Sakura. I'm sexy and I could care less what anyone else thinks of me. Shit happens sometimes.

"Ino, don't tell me you're afraid my feelings are hurt because your cousin got sick…" I chastised when I was done laughing and she seemed to relax, but then she frowned deeper and looked away. Wait, was there more to it?

"It's all my fault, Sakura. I feel so bad. I took him to go out to eat last night. I wanted to know more about what he thought of you—"

"Ino!" I interrupted, offended. She knew what she had done wrong and continued instead.

"I know I know! I have to stay out of your business, I know. But I couldn't help it, okay; forget about that part!" She spoke quickly, waving her hands around, expressively. "But anyway, I took him to this junky fast food place near the compound because it was late and I think the pork he ate made him sick. Shizune-san says he'll be out for days." She finished in a dejected tone, but then put her hands on her hips and let her determination shine through her eyes.

Her next sentence would be a self-righteous one, that's for sure.

"The least you can let me do is take you out in his stead." She seemed to not want to take "no" for an answer. As I thought.

"I think I have a better way of making it up to him, Ino." And I pushed away the purple and black passes that she had held out in her stubborn fit with a gentle smile. She looked _observantly_ nervous as she studied my face. "How about this, you take the girls out with those tickets and have a blast. I'll stay here and check up on your cousin, with your permission, of course." I offered because it was the morally correct path to take. Ino didn't accept it though.

"What? No! You have to go! I mean— I'm not gonna let you stay behind and get sick from him, either! He's been throwing up everywhere since the middle of last night!" She crossed her arms, the four tickets in one hand. I grimaced, because I didn't want to go and deal with other guys at a club. I fruitlessly waited for Sasuke for how long? …Yeah, I think I could wait a week for Suchiru. It was no big deal. He seemed like he had a kind heart anyway. It would be rude to go and maybe meet another guy, off of his finances too! Yeah, no, I couldn't do that, no way! I did _not _want to be stuck having to pay attention to two guys either, all because I have no self-control when I drink. Guys were the hardest to get rid of once they were _really_ interested in you. And if you told them that you were interested in someone else? Pffft they always went nuts to prove you wrong at least shinobi did. I only ever went after shinobi, I realized. They never expected me to be strong enough to hold my own against them, so I felt safe in the shadow of their ignorance.

"Sakura, really, I won't let you stay. I don't think Suchiru would be happy if you stayed, either." Ino pressed. She was in bossy-best-friend-mode… _great_. I decided to change the subject while I mulled her statement over.

"Who's going in place of Sai?" I asked instead, because I needed more time to think. How do I convince her I _need_ to stay?

"I don't know. I don't even think I want to go if I can't dance with my boyfriend…" Ino frowned and her shoulders dropped. Yeah that was another problem. Ino didn't have many boundaries when she was drinking either. We both looked at each other, thinking, contemplating and suddenly, Ino's eyes lit up.

"I know!" She shouted suddenly. A woman peered over at us as she was walking past with her small dog and Ino grabbed me by my shoulders, excitedly. I gave the woman an awkward smile, to which the woman returned just as awkwardly and continued on her way. Ugh, I _hated _it when Ino got excited… Nothing good usually _ever_ came of it. Her excitement was always mischievous in a very social way, _always_. She winked at me as she spoke.

"I have a mission for you, Sakura." She cooed and her eyes sparkled, but I knew better. That was her sugar-coated evil shining through… Crap. A '_mission' _now? Why did Suchiru have to get sick? Why did things _never _go the way I planned them to? It was like someone up there was against me! I glared up at the sky to make it a point to kami-sama that I was most displeased. I sighed in exasperation, but I wasn't defeated just yet.

"I'll take it if I want to. You're not forcing a stupid 'mission' on me, Ino." I held my ground. I was an adult. Ino would _not_ push me around. Her cheeks puffed up in a determined expression as her eyes flitted across my face, calculatingly.

"Fine. But just hear it out. It's not that bad, I promise." She had appealed to my reserved side and I waved my hand for her to continue and rolled my eyes. "_Fine_..." But it wasn't a solid "fine" it was a stretched and weary "fine" because really, I was too old to be playing games on behalf of Ino. I knew she liked getting into people's romances and this sounded _just_ like one of her match-making schemes. Nothing ever worked out when someone tried playing matchmaker. Hadn't she learned that by now?

"Remember how we talked about Kakashi-sensei having a thing for Kurenai-sensei?" She whispered now, because Kakashi-sensei had ears and eyes _everywhere _and we both knew better than to speak loudly when scheming about him. Regardless, the second she mentioned sensei I was already rejecting the idea. She was going to have _me _set _them_ up to make them come out with it already. Oh no, no,_ no._ Kurenai-sensei had a four-and-a-half year old to care for, anyway! How the hell was I going to get her to go to a _club _of all things?

"Don't give me that look, Sakura." She pierced my thoughts with a warning in her tone.

Great, I had "the look" on my face.

"Ino, Kurenai-sensei has a _small child._" I stressed, because Kurenai-sensei was a fantastic mother. She would never leave her son behind to go drink and banter around. That just wasn't like her.

"That's exactly why she needs to go out and why _not_ with Kakashi-sensei?" Ino argued back.

"Kakashi-sensei will sneer and blow it off, anyway. That's a _stupid_ idea. Just go and bring whoever you want to replace Suchiru and I. Don't overcomplicate things!" I was getting aggravated now. She _always _liked drama. Couldn't she ever knock it off?

"He won't blow it off if you tell him you'll need him to keep the boys away from you." She winked, with a finger up. I smashed my hand into her face and pushed her away from me because I was tired of speaking in hushed tones. This was _not _the conversation I wanted to have after an eleven-hour shift at the hospital, and _yes_ I had been there at exactly six am after about three or so hours of sleep.

"You're ridiculous, Ino-pig." I grumbled. She smacked my hand away and looked offended. She shoved the tickets at my flatter-than-hers chest and held them there. I stared down at where they were between my B-sized breasts. I glared up at her. She glared determinedly back.

"Take them and do what you will with them. They were for you, Sakura, don't be ungrateful." She spoke in a tone echoing finality.

Ungrateful? I was _not _ungrateful… okay… maybe I was selfish because I was slightly introverted and lazy and didn't really _feel_ like getting three other people to go with me to a club… but those might've been the rejection issues I thought I had squashed a long time ago because t's not exactly like I had kept in much contact with everyone over the years and this was really sudden. I frowned at the tickets she still held to my beating heart and rolled my eyes. It would be equally messed up if I decided not to go when Suchiru obviously wanted me to. And if she said that he said he wanted me to have fun, even without him, why the hell not? I sighed.

"Fine." I glared at her and took the four tickets. Now I had to go find three other people. Three. This was going to be _so_ annoying. Who was single anymore? TenTen was dating Lee, who didn't drink, which would be a good thing because he'd probably help keep me in check, but I didn't want to burden them. I had failed at saving their teammate, how could I ask them to babysit me while I drank myself until all of my pain and guilt was gone? That was _wrong_. I _could _ask Naruto and Hinata if they wanted to go… but… Hinata's father would never allow it; not his eldest daughter, no way, not even if Naruto was there in bijuu mode the entire time. Pfft. Okay so they were off of the list… But I could still ask Naruto to chaperone me, right? But… it was sudden and I was sure today was Saturday. He and Hinata probably had plans already. Sai didn't want to go so… why _not_ ask Kurenai-sensei and kakashi-sensei? I pettily looked at Ino, holding a small grudge against her. Really, how could she force me to do this? She gave me a soft, apologetic smile and I couldn't really hold it against her.

I sighed.

"I'm not mad at you. Either way I'm going to just drink while some dumb guy pays for it. But still... This is a lot of work and I still don't have an outfit for tonight." I put my one hand, the one that wasn't full with the passes on my hip. That was a problem. I wasn't going to search all day and not have anything nice to go to the place with later. Screw that. Finding people to go wasn't worth it.

"There's still time. Just go get some people and I'll be out looking for good outfits for you. You can meet me at the clothing market when you're done." Ino was grinning and I knew she liked to dress me up, so I sucked it up for old times' sake and just took off anbu-style.

The first place I went? Kakashi-sensei's apartment. As I placed my feet next to his window on the third floor, I noticed he wasn't there. I smirked wryly. Time to try Kurenai-sensei's place, then. I leapt across town using my chakra because I just didn't feel like walking everywhere. This was a huge wrench in my plans for today and I was in no mood to deal with throngs of people in my way. In front of Kurenai's neat cherry-wood apartment door, I took a deep breath and knocked twice. I didn't hear footsteps, but my awareness felt Kurenai-sensei's chakra come up to the door. She opened it wide and smiled at me.

"Sakura-chan!" She turned around to Kakashi-sensei in the background, who looked to be playing with Kurenai's son. They were playing a game of shogi on the floor, and I had to hold back my snicker because Kakashi-sensei looked _weird_ around kids. He was gentler, somehow; entirely not the anbu he was or the feared and revered copy-ninja of the Leaf. Little Asuma peered at me with curious, dark eyes from his spot on the fluffy, white, carpeted floor. He was going to be a tall kid. "Kakashi, you were right, it _is_ her." She smirked at my sensei who only nodded back. Kakashi-sensei was nervous, I could tell in the way he was sitting cross legged in front of the couch... his back was a _wee_ bit too straight.

But he had _felt _me coming, so this wasn't a surprise, it was merely a confrontation that he had to get out of the way because _eventually _it was going to happen. He learned that last night over ramen with his "cute little students" who had grown up and outsmarted him, for once. Heh, I felt some pride at that, actually.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." I suddenly felt bad, however, like maybe somehow I was intruding on something special. Who was I to come in here and take away my sensei's happiness and privacy like it was my job to?

"No, no Sakura. It's so good to see you. Come in and sit down while I fix something for us." Kurenai reassured as she stepped into her apartment. I did as she suggested and kicked off my shoes before I stepped into her apartment. She went to the small kitchen area to make tea while I sat on the couch and waited. The tickets in my pocket suddenly felt very heavy and I smiled at Asuma as he smiled back at me. He had wild, dark hair and a grin that looked more like a smirk. If I was stupid and didn't know any better he looked like a less regal version of what Sasuke's kids might one day look like.

"Who're you?" He asked from his cross-legged position across from Kakashi-sensei.

"My name is Sakura." I responded gently.

"_Asuma._ What did I tell you about introductions?" Kurenai hissed from the kitchen. I didn't know she was capable of sounding so dangerous. Nervous, the blushing kid looked up at Kakashi who just nodded in return. Wow… how long had Kakashi been around for Asuma to look to him for silent support like that? I looked at the game of shogi between the two males. Their round had begun not long ago. How long had Shikamaru been around for Asuma to know how to play shogi already? He was only four and a half! I had missed out on so much these last four years… I didn't even know the kid's birth date…

"Sorry, nee-chan. My name is Sarutobi Asuma, may I have your name?" He started over. I grinned at how bravely he stuck out his hand, a determined expression on his slightly tanned face.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. I'm a friend of your mom's. It's nice to finally meet you." I smiled brightly and he grinned again.

"Kakashi-tan says you're an iryo-nin!" He blurted and I laughed as I thought I heard Kurenai place a plate down in the background a little too hard. Kakashi-tan? Well, _that_ was new to hear… who knew Kakashi-sensei could win kids over so easily? Naruto, Sasuke and I didn't like him when we first met him.

"Yes I am." I agreed with what he said, because it was hard to say anything else to such a blatant declaration of known information.

"He never said you had pink hair, though." He looked curious for a moment, but then winced.

"Asuma!" Another warning from the kitchen. He frowned.

"It's okay, Asuma-kun. A lot of people comment on my hair. Do you like the color?" I asked in a soft tone. I was using my big-sister voice that I used with my younger patients at the hospital.

"It looks pretty on you!" He grinned. And I grinned back because that was sweet, coming from a kid. "But my favorite color is blue!" He added and I smiled because blue was a soothing color. It was the most common one that children liked.

"Oh really? Wanna know my favorite color?" I asked with a grin as I heard Kurenai walk over. Asuma seemed to study me with his calculating eyes. Shikamaru was starting to rub off on him, definitely.

"I think it's red." He commented before I could tell him. I smirked. He was definitely Asuma's kid. Great observational skills.

"You're right. It's the only color that looks okay with my silly hair." I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed as Kurenai-sensei placed the tray of tea on the small, square side-table next to the couch and handed me a cup.

"Ne, Sakura-nee-chan! Do you wanna help me beat Kakashi-sama at shogi!? It's an awesome game that Shika-nii-chan taught me!" I laughed but I shook my head as I sipped my tea.

"I would stay to play, but I have a bit of a tight schedule. I just wanted to ask you guys if you'd go out with me tonight? I came upon a few extra tickets…"

Kakashi didn't seem surprised. Did he find out that Suchiru was sick before I did? That was weird… why was everyone in my business, somehow? Or rather, why did I _feel_ like everyone was in my business all of a sudden? Maybe I had been too social this last week? I saved that thought for when I would drink later tonight.

"Ah, I see you've found out." Kakashi-sensei drawled in response. I shot him a suspicious glance.

"Yes, I _do_ tend to wonder how you seem to know things before I do…" I deadpanned back, but added a bit of sweetness to my voice to make it sound edgy and dangerous.

Kakashi-sensei's one eye twinkled and I knew he was smirking beneath his mask.

"Oh I have my ways." He shrugged and I glowered before I shook my head. Now was not the time to pull information out of my old sensei in front of his girlfriend and her four-year-old kid. I would just have to rip him a new one for this later, somehow.

"Anyway, I can't let these passes go to waste and I couldn't imagine going with any one else… if you'll go, of course; Just for a couple drinks and maybe some memorable pictures?" I shrugged. Because I wanted them to know they didn't have to stay forever. They were kind of my last resort… I couldn't really ask anyone else, to be honest.

"Ah, no deal, Sakura-chan." Kakashi sensei replied glumly and I frowned. Kurenai put a hand on my shoulder soothingly.

"But Shikamaru is in town with Temari. I think they might be getting bored of just walking around. They'll be here later and I'm sure Temari would love to experience a night out of Konoha in fire country." Kurenai mended. In other words, she would force Shikamaru to clean up and take his girlfriend out because Kakashi had already told her I was in a pinch and might come here for assistance. Great. Why did I expect any different outcome? Why did I expect to come here with an upper hand? My logical mind told me not to fret, however, because I don't really care who goes. It's just important that the people that go have fun. Shikamaru would hate it and call it "troublesome" but Temari would tell him to loosen up. She'd at least have fun. So that was good enough for me. Actually, none of it mattered because I was going to go and have fun drinking anyway, but the objective here was, "fun in honor of Suchiru", not, "lament the fact that you have no one to hang out with anymore". I nodded at Kurenai and handed her two tickets from my pocket. I had one left. I was going to have to find one more person.

"Okay. I have to go find one more person, so I'll be heading out. I stood up and bowed in respect to Kurenai and Kakashi. "Thank you kindly for the tea." I always loved a cup of Jasmine. It was light but fragrant and rich in anti-oxidants.

"Of course. Good luck with the other pass." Kurenai responded with a confident smile. I briefly wondered what it must be like to be her. She had a baby with the man she loved, even though that man was dead. She had someone else who cared about her in a romantic way that she obviously felt romantic about as well. She had a nice apartment and was being taken care of.

She had what every woman wanted: A son, a male to raise and love her son, and a comfortable, solid roof over her head; no fear of death and the assurance that she still had enough skill to protect herself and her son should it ever come to that. What was wrong with me that I couldn't ever see my life giving me that kind of peaceful future?

"Ja ne, Sakura-chan." Kakashi-sensei's voice interrupted my solemn thoughts. He waved and I nodded at him. Surprisingly, Asuma jumped up and hugged my legs tightly. I ruffled his hair in response. He was a sweet kid.

"Come play shogi with me next time, nee-chan!" He grinned up at me and I smiled back down at him.

"Of course, Asuma." Then, when he let go I shunshinned out of there, off to find Kiba, because Kiba would be up for a night out. And as far as I remembered he still wanted me, so why not bribe him with an opportunity to get at me? Right? Okay. That was mean. It was an evil tactic, but whatever. Kiba would at least drink with me.

At the Inuzuka compound, Kiba answered, Akamaru in tow. The large dog jumped ahead of his master, placing each of his front paws on one of my shoulders and I hugged him, scratching behind his ears. I laughed because I hadn't seen Akamaru in a few years. He looked shaggy and sturdy as always.

"Akamaru, really." Kiba chastised and the dog barked back at him and jumped off, nudging his head against my waist. I patted the dog as I looked to Kiba.

"Yo Sakura. What's going on?" Kiba asked with his usual friendly smile. He had grown handsome too. But I knew better than to mess around with Inuzuka Kiba; not at this point in his life, at least.

"I came across an extra pass to go to Hofuku in the festival town. Wanna go?" I asked bluntly because that was just the way we communicated. Kuba blushed and I saw him nervously scratch at his palms.

"Well… I would, Sakura, but I kind of… have a date tonight. Maybe some other time?" He replied lamely.

Jashin damn it. Kiba: He was cute and he knew it and he liked to play the game and juggle girls... Horndog. Kami-sama hated me. The _one _guy who could take up the last ticket found _someone else _to be interested in. Shit.

"Okay, sorry for bugging you, gotta go." It was time to high-tail it out of there.

"Wait, Saku—

I shunshinned again, because I didn't even want to _think_ about Kiba offering to go on a date some other time. Ugh. I just wanted to drink. Why was it so hard to just go and drink? Why did Suchiru have to spend money on _four _tickets instead of just two?

Drinking. I was developing a problem… definitely…

Wait a second…

…

_Drinking_! I _knew_ someone who wanted to drink with me, but I'd have to make sure he didn't get the wrong idea first…

Ten minutes later I found myself at apartment 312, knocking on Sasuke's door because he would be the only one not necessarily busy… unless he had something planned… which I hoped he didn't, which—

"Sakura."

Shit. I was staring into space. When had he opened his door? Stopbeingso_fucking_nervousfornoreason! I screamed at myself. I'm not twelve anymore! Why was I so worried about Sasuke getting the wrong idea?

Sake. Just focus on sake.

"We're drinking tonight." There was no saying no. Sasuke crossed his arms and glowered at me. I took that as my moment to enter his apartment. I was feeling defensive and invading his personal territory somehow made me feel in control so I did it… and refrained from pacing in his kitchen. I leaned against one of his countertops with my arms crossed. He was still immobile at the door as he stared at me, a challenging expression on his face. He looked from my feet to the door, twice.

Nope. I wasn't moving.

"What." I snipped. Got something to say, Uchiha? I felt confrontational. I hated this whole situation from happening because I had to _confront_ Uchiha Sasuke and ask the smug jerk out. Sasuke was my friend, but complementing him by asking him of all people to go somewhere with me was dangerous. His ego would inflate, probably, and I would feel awkward because of how invested I used to be in him.

Sasuke shook his head and shut his door. He sauntered confidently into the kitchen and I _forced _my shoulders to remain straight. It was easy to feel like steak for a shark around Sasuke. His mouth was as smart as mine and I wasn't sure if I could win a battle of witty words in my stressed state at the moment. I felt like if I made one wrong move I'd embarrass myself and be that pathetic twelve-year-old I was when he left.

"I just drank last night, Sakura." Sasuke was leaning on the white tile countertop across from me, crossing his arms, in a cool, relaxed position. His entire body was telling me he had the upper hand even though his face was expressionless. It was like an instinct or a sixth sense I had that made me feel that way. The question was _why_? _Why _was Sasuke traipsing around like a cock amongst hens (figuratively speaking of course) in response to me _telling _him that he's going to drink with me tonight?

"Okay. You don't get it. You're drinking with me tonight. There's no saying "no". Suchiru got sick and I need a baby sitter that can hold his liquor. Plus, we still have to see who can drink who under the table. I hope you haven't forgotten that." I spoke in a factual tone. I spoke to him like he was _just a friend_. I tried to block out the horrid memories of twelve-year-old me telling him how much I loved him and wanted him to stay and him shitting all over my confession as a result. As a defense mechanism, I completely ignored the fact that this was Sasuke standing in front of me. I completely ignored the distinct and specific hum of his chakra. I pasted Naruto's face on his body because Naruto was easier to think about and be around than Uchiha Sasuke. Treat him like a bro, Sakura. He'll get it. He won't get the wrong idea. Don't ruin your friendship by thinking about the past. Don't.

_But his body is really hot, isn't it, even with Naruto's face on it? Hmm… what would be better? Naruto's build with Sasuke's face or Sasuke's body with Naruto's face? _

Kami-sama, SHUT UP. What the _fuck_ was that thought!? Now was _not _the time to be having a mental disorder. They were teammates! You don't think about teammates that way!

_Well… Sasuke's our teammate and friend now… why don't we treat him the way we treat Naruto? Share a bed, wear his old clothes, cry into his chest after we murder the next child… _

That's… that's not right…

_Exactly… we're not over what happened back then... I wonder if Sasuke pities us… _

Fuck off. Maybe my past concerning Sasuke is still a healing scab, but I had to get over it. It's in the past. Sasuke deserves better than me whining about what happened after everything he's been through.

No answer. I won that round. Thank you logic. Sasuke was talking. Fuck.

"What?" I spoke dumbly.

He looked peeved.

"Repeat what I just said." He demanded.

"No. You repeat what you just said." I defended but it made no sense.

"That makes no sense; it defeats the purpose." He was as sharp as ever.

"I wasn't listening. I was thinking." I blatantly revealed.

He cocked a brow.

"About what?" He asked superiorly.

"About how nosy you are, now repeat what you said. I'm listening." I quipped back childishly. He shot me a minor glare at the "nosy" comment but he let it slide.

"I'll drink with you tonight on one condition." He repeated. Now he was smirking and _I _was narrowing my eyes. What fucking condition could he _possibly _set?

"Okay…" I replied slowly, not trusting the mischief behind his eyes. Ino had given me the same look.

"You have to do something you don't like with me." He stated in a simple tone. Oh. He just wanted to hand out an equal punishment. Funny...

That was the moment I realized that Uchiha Sasuke liked to play games. I glowered at him.

"I don't like to go to clubs." I defended hotly. That was an asinine request for him to make!

He gave me a disbelieving look. He was onto my bullshit. I sighed because I didn't want to lie to him.

"Okay, I don't like to go to clubs _with people I know_…" I clarified in an honest tone.

Sasuke nodded, briefly closing his eyes in understanding. I smirked because he liked to play games and I could very well play games too. It was time for a counterstrike in this conversation; there was a loophole in his request, heh heh...

"I'll go do something I don't like with you in turn for you drinking with me when you clearly don't want to, sure… but only under the condition that you figure out what I don't like to do all on your own." I stated proudly, because I had him there. He knew _nothing _about me. I knew _all _of his little quirks. I remembered them from the brief childhood we shared. He knew _nothing_ about me because he _never _cared about me. Hah. Fu fu fuuuu I _totally _got him. Haughty Uchiha thinks he's hot shi—

"You don't like eating excessively spicy food. So we'll eat excessively spicy food." He shrugged easily with a smirk, as if he had beaten me to the last canteen of water in a desert.

My mouth fell open in response. I was completely taken aback and didn't cover up my surprise fast enough to come up with a lie, probably because it was getting easier to talk to him the more I got to re-acquaint myself with him. But still. How did he _know _that!? I stared at him horrified and watched as he lifted a finger to close my mouth for me. I smacked it away the second it touched my jaw, blinked, and regained my composure.

"How could you have possibly known that!?"I glared. That was my _moment; _how could he have ruined it for me like that!? I was supposed to shut him up back there! He was still smirking smugly. Ugh, I wanted to wipe that expression off of his face. I would, but in due time. We still had to spar, and I _still _planned on sucker punching him right in his sexy square jaw for leaving me on a bench!

"How pathetic do you think my memory is?" He asked seriously. All of a sudden his tone and the entire atmosphere changed. His smirk faded into a stoic mask and I had to wonder how he managed to make the air feel so different with just one sentence… Did he mean something deeper when he said that? I narrowed my eyes as I felt the ghosts of hot tears flowing down my face… It was like he was staring _through_ me at that same memory. I briefly checked my chakra flow to make sure he hadn't actually genjutsued me. I'd _never_ get rid of the memory of that night, unfortunately. Maybe he hadn't forgotten it, either. I shook my head, choosing not to travel down that road with him right now.

"When did I ever tell you I hated too much spice?" I demanded instead, because if there was someone currently spilling my secrets, I wanted to know who I needed to beat into a pulp.

"You never told me." He replied vaguely, a cool expression on his handsome face. A glare had him talking again, though. "You told Naruto once… a while ago, while we were at Ichiraku Ramen." He shrugged.

"Oh." And I couldn't help but think it was sweet that he had cared to retain that information. But I didn't get my hopes up. Please, I'm smarter and much more mature than that. I remembered stupid information too. Everyone did. It was the dumb little things that human brains tended to focus on the most. It shouldn't be surprising that he remembered.

"Well I'm not surprised. It's the little things that people tend to remember the most; the "stupid" information. You might not remember Naruto's birthday but you'll always remember that he _actually _poisoned himself on our first C-ranked mission in Wave." I giggled at the memory and Sasuke offered a short, quiet laugh as well. The air was less tense now and I sighed in relief.

"Fine, Sasuke I'll go have something extremely spicy with you." I conceded.

Sasuke shrugged. "Choji's family owns a restaurant. They have some spicy barbeque there." He offered and I contemplated. I grimaced. I liked spicy things don't get me wrong, but I liked _mildly _spicy things; I was very specific about that. On the scale of "spicy" I was a beginner and I would always be.

"You can pick the place and the entre." I offered and Sasuke smirked more to himself than me. I suddenly regretted offering for him to pick the entre I was to eat.

"Just don't make it so that I lose my tongue, okay?" And I lightly punched him in the shoulder. He nodded in response.

"So Yamanaka ditched you?" He asked and I hit him again this time, but harder. He rubbed his shoulder and glared at me, but I was fuming and embarassed.

"No!" I defended hotly. "He came down with a stomach flu because stupid _Ino-pig_ couldn't keep her nose out of my business." Blaming Ino was easier than admitting I was replacing Suchiru with Sasuke, my childhood crush who did _not_ return my feelings.

Sasuke cocked a confused brow. What did Ino have to do with Ino's cousin getting sick? I saw the question and the gears turning in his head but I didn't feel like explaining.

"Nevermind, it's not important what he got or how he got it." I drawled, pretending not to feel embarrassed.

"Hn, you make it sound like an STD." He mumbled and I _swear _Sasuke was making it his goal to get hit by me more times than Naruto ever did!

"I already _told you_ it's a stomach flu!" I bit back, pointing at him and losing patience. Sasuke seemed to enjoy seeing me pissed off. I crossed my arms and looked right in his stupid, mysterious eyes that seemed more grey than black today.

"Do you _enjoy _pissing me off?" I asked him, a suspicious lilt to my voice. Because really. I wanted to know.

"Hn. Do you and Kakashi _enjoy_ destroying my stomach with all the drinking you both do with me?" He shot back, childishly.

"Look, your stomach would be fine if you ate less acidic foods… like _tomatoes_. By eating less acid you could enjoy _more _sake. Basic chemistry." I quipped back and poked his rock solid abs to prove a point. He only glared down at me and dropped his arms to his sides. He placed his forearm on top of his counter.

"I'd prefer tomatoes over sake. Tomatoes don't give me headaches in the morning." He argued back, but it wasn't heated, it was half-hearted. He was only responding because again, Sasuke liked to play games, specifically _verbal _games. That was something he definitely retained from spending too much time around Orochimaru. I almost shuddered at the memory of the man. At least Sasuke made verbal games relatively enjoyable…

"Well, it's not my fault you focused more on fighting than healing." I sniffed and stuck my nose in the air. To my surprise Sasuke flicked it! That fucker _flicked my nose! _

"Hey!" So I jumped to swat at his, but he was tall so all he had to do was lean back and dodge and I was unable to avenge my flicked nose. "What the _hell_ was that for!"

"Your overconfidence and overindulgent pride." He smoothly replied.

"Hah! Says the one, Sasuke!" And before I realized it, I was laughing and pulling his bangs instead. I also regretfully realized how warm I was and looked down to find that he was curled backwards over his countertop and I was not exactly being modest, um, with how deeply pressed against him I was. I was suddenly too aware of his solid chest against my breasts and his eyes on my face. Before I could panic I finished tugging his hair and pushed myself back to my side of the counter, suddenly, not very sure of what my friendship with Sasuke exactly was in my own head. I was suddenly _very _afraid of the feelings I used to have for him. Horrified, actually.

I ignored what just happened and acted cool. Because I _would not _under any circumstances let him realize that he flustered me. I crossed my arms and leaned further back, smirking.

"Whatever, Uchiha, I'm a damned good medic…and chemist." I complemented myself because remember, I was pretended to be solid and unruffled. I hoped I was convincing.

He nodded. "They say you surpassed Tsunade." It was just a statement but I blushed because I was _far _from surpassing my shisho, at least in my own opinion.

"That's just talk." I shrugged. Because it probably was. I'd be nothing if it weren't for Tsunade-sama. Nothing. I'd be a scared, useless little girl and worst of all, both Naruto and Sasuke would have left me far behind. I wouldn't have the standing to call them _my_ boys because I'd be so weak.

"You saved Yugao." He pointed out, suddenly.

"I save a lot of people." I shrugged. "Tsunade-sama probably has saved more."

"Mn."

It was quiet and I could hear a clock ticking somewhere, very quietly. Right, it was almost time for my freakout, because my brain was still begging me to analyze the fact that I just had _fun_ with Sasuke… in his _kitchen._

"Anyway, I have to go meet Ino. Here's your ticket." I fished the purple and black pass out of my pocket and handed it to him. He took the paper from me, and brought it closer to read.

"Hofuku." He snorted. "Retribution." He repeated again. And then… I laughed too. Because that was _such_ a fitting name for where I was bringing _him_ of all people. Retribution: A punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved. Yep. Sasuke deserved to be drunk at a club _full _of people for having such a stick up his ass his entire life and being such a jerk to me and Naruto. It was astounding and funny that we were laughing about that in his kitchen… four years after the war and eight years after he left us.

Neji's face suddenly fluttered across my mind at the mention of time and war.

My laughter died and I think Sasuke noticed.

"I'll see you later tonight." I ran my fingers through my loose hair. "Knowing Ino she'll drag me to her place because she still likes to play "dress up" like a little girl. I might as well check up on Suchiru when I'm there, anyway." I shrugged, speaking in a more serious tone because the living needed tending-to so they wouldn't become the dead.

The dead. The blood… the blood all over Neji's body. The gaping hole through his chest... Faces flew by. The last men that I assassinated… all of the children we found that Orochimaru had experimented on… the ones who were forgotten… That mission was the hardest… disposing of those children and hearing their screams because death was all that could save them… Ugh… I felt sick. I swallowed the ball of disgust that was forming in my throat. I realized that I had robotically followed Sasuke the short distance to his door. He was silent and I wondered if he had picked up on my surprisingly dark thoughts. I watched as he opened the door, turned around and fucking _poked_ me in the head with his two fingers! I smacked his hand away and he smirked.

"What was that for?" I glowered. He shrugged.

"Out. I need to go do things now." He commanded, pointing to the open hallway. I pretended to curtsy and mimicked holding a flowing, wide dress out to my sides as I bent my knees with a straight back.

"Yes your glorious Uchiha majesty!" I quipped sarcastically and Sasuke shoved me through his doorway and stepped out into the hall where I had to jump to keep myself from falling.

"Keep shoving. We'll see how far I send _you_ flying when we spar." I smirked. Sasuke shut his door and locked it with his key. Even in the dim light of the hallway I could see his smirk.

"Did you forget who helped win the war?" He queried, feeling entitled.

"Did you forget it wasn't just you?" I asked in a mock-sweet tone, crossing my arms. "If Naruto hadn't been there we'd have all been screwed."

"Ah." He agreed simply.

"Ja-ne, Saske." I shunshinned close to the market because that freak-out was creeping up on me… because Sasuke being different than I expected was _really _creeping up on me. I wasn't expecting him to be civil or even kind… Not so fast… and today he had been… _normal_ like with absolutely _no _sign of the previous insanity that had plagued him that one time we nearly killed each other… None. He was a completely different person. My mind almost disbelieved my conversation with him and told me that that wasn't Sasuke back there, at least, not the Sasuke _I _knew…

What had changed?

And then I realized he had asked that question last night.

But really… just _what_ had changed and _when_? Four years… was four years even long enough for Sasuke to return to normal? Back in his kitchen… did we… did we _finally _fix things? Did Ino maybe use her mind-healing technique on him at some point or something? Because fixing whatever ties we had wasn't a possibility a week ago. What _world_ was I in? Because this one was definitely not mine… Sasuke was a civil human being… that… that fact was_ new_. He had been so hostile the last few times I'd interacted with him that the fact that he may have actually _changed_ throughout these last four years was impossible to believe. However, I had seen the change myself.

Four years… We hadn't even really talked on the battlefield during the war. We hadn't said so much as a single word to each other for _four_ years since the war and all of a sudden because we started living next to each other… _that_ in his kitchen happened? Did he _allow _me into his personal space because maybe there _was_ no more bad history between us anymore? Was there _no_ awkwardness left anymore and I was just over-analyzing and over-thinking things again? Yeah… that had to be it…

Besides, I had put my foot down in his kitchen and became determined to treat him like a _friend_. Like a good friend. Like Naruto… And… and I no longer disliked him… Actually, I felt comfortable thinking about him. Yeah… maybe… maybe just _fuck_ the past. I smiled to myself. I was free. I was _free _of every feeling that had ever chained me down to Sasuke because Sasuke himself had allowed me to transition him into the "friend" category in my mind. Good.

Yes, Sasuke was sexy. He was a man, and a beautiful one at that. But Naruto was really hot too. They had both grown into really good-looking guys. But they were my _teammates_, both of them. And I finally felt like I had them back and viewed them both the way they _should _be viewed after everything that had transpired. I had _both_ of them back again. Without any painful memories.

I flew to the market, intent on looking hot later tonight while drinking my guilt away over Neji and every person I had ever killed or let die in my presence that night. Maybe… maybe it would _actually _be fun and I could laugh at Shikamaru as Temari made him dance with her. I smirked. It _was_ going to be fun. Thank you, Suchiru, because you just indirectly helped fix a part of my broken mind that I didn't think was fixable. I smiled at the sky, thanking kami-sama for somehow putting Suchiru on my path. And on that note I was going to make sure he was doing better tonight; Ino wouldn't stop me from checking on him. No way…

-X-

**READ THIS NOTE BEFORE YOU FLIP OUT! **

Okay, you've gotten this far, congratulations! Now breathe. Inhale… … … okay, exhale. You guys **have **to understand that there is _a lot _of psychology in this chapter, especially where Sakura is concerned. As you can see, her inner is coming back, slowly but surely. Sakura doesn't know how to deal with Sasuke. She doesn't have anyone to talk to about her deepest thoughts about him either because she doesn't feel like burdening anyone, remember? She's very humble and selfless and nearly everyone she knows has found a significant other to lean on. It's clear in cannon that Sakura and Naruto lean on each other for support, _a lot_. Now that Hinata is at Naruto's side, Sakura has technically "lost" her best friend. Ino is a therapist and has her own relationship to take care of. No use in bugging her. Kakashi had found someone to occupy his mind with as well.

In short, Sakura feels _alone_. I tried to subtly insert that while she was searching for people to give the tickets to and realized that most of the people that she thought of would have been bothered by her asking them. I tried to show you guys how isolated she had become since becoming an anbu and leaving on long-term missions in that scene. Sakura is _alone_. Her mother is pregnant, that was mentioned briefly in another chapter. Plus her parents are a little whacked out too, so she couldn't go to them for womanly advice, now could she? She has_ no one _to confide in.

This is also why she is drinking her pain away. Obviously, Neji's death was the first death that affected her in a personal way. Chiyo was the very first death in cannon (only because Haku and Zabuza seemed like they affected Naruto more) that affected her but in my fic I'm also adding in Neji, because he's a symbol of her weakness. She wasn't yet strong enough in that moment to save him. His death haunts her because she prides herself in feeling strong and capable. She's also haunted by all the people she's assassinated as an anbu. Remember, she's being doing long-term missions for a while. Four years of death can really damage a person.

But that brings me to Sasuke.

Four years can really _fix _a person too. Sasuke has been around Naruto for four years. He's had a chance to earn trust and respect and change his way of thinking. He's had time to also go on missions and rebuild bonds as well as suffer the neglect and disgust Naruto once suffered at the hands of the village. He only recently became an anbu and started being away. So, in a sense, Sasuke and Sakura were well on their way to basically switching lives, almost. But, Naruto stepped in because both he and Tsunade were _worried _for Sakura. Even Sasuke realized that she wasn't as happy as she used to be. That upsets him even though he figured that he _shouldn't_ care if she didn't want him or anyone else to care.

This brings me to Naruto.

What a change there! Being around Tsunade for four years has really helped Naruto grow in terms of politics and strategy. I'm sure hanging out with Shikamaru helped as well. So Naruto's also growing, but in a more mental way. At the same time, he's making sure he doesn't lose himself and who he is.

I wanted to write this because I want you guys to get a good perspective on the characters and how they had changed over the years. They're still them, they're just _tweaked _a little because of their _individual _experiences and they _still _have thoughts and ideas that they struggle with in terms of each other. Naruto seems like he's the only one who has a grip on himself lol, but I promise all is not what it seems. I also wanted to put this here in case some of you guys feel like this chapter seemed to rush things a little. I didn't want Sasuke to seem OOC and you guys will see his thoughts on what I'm now going to call "the kitchen incident" in the next chapter… Because I love writing Sasuke. His thought process is much more straightforward than Sakura's at this point.

Again, please remember that Sakura is technically havingpsychological issues that she doesn't know how to deal with, thus the scatter-brained thought stream in the chapters that include her POV.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Yadda yadda. You get it. I make no money. I shouldn't have to say this. If I had money to fight a lawsuit resulting in the improper usage of someone else's shit, I'd just shut my mouth and buy Naruto from Kishimoto, though I doubt he'd willingly sell it off to anyone for any price anyway.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	8. The List

KISEKI

|8|

Sakura performed a perfect shunshin, leaving me in the hallway to think. My heart was still pounding and I still felt all of the blood rushing around in my body. Earlier, when her fucking boobs were pressed against me I had felt like grabbing her waist and just kissing her, because usually that led to… other things... It was a _stupid _impulse and it was probably because it's been a while since I last got laid. Thank kami-sama for self-control…I ran a shaky hand through my hair.

What the _fuck_ is wrong with me? Well, nothing's wrong with _me_, per se, it's just my stupid body. It wouldn't listen to my brain when it told it that there was _no_ way anything was going to happen between Sakura and I. More importantly, I wasn't going to _let_ anything happen… and if I _did_ I'm pretty sure Sakura would break my face _and_ my dick.

A tiny vain voice in the back of my head whispered_, maybe not… maybe she'd want to…_

Fuck.

I rubbed my scalp where it tingled from where she pulled my hair. The heat and need roiled in my stomach with a vengeance at the memory and I almost slammed the back of my head against my apartment door. From what I could tell Sakura had _no_ inclination to what _almost _happened there. Either she was naïve or she didn't give a damn about me enough to assume I'd be attracted to her. At least I held it together…

…

That brought me to this next thought: If I was reacting to her treating me like an _actual _friend like _this_… how the fuck was I going to handle being around her in a club while _drinking _with her? I shook my head. I _would_ handle it. For _her_ sake. I wasn't going to open closed wounds. A part of my mind _begged _me to, but I promptly told it to shut the _fuck_ up because Sakura wasn't Sakura anymore. There was something _off_ about her and I couldn't place my finger on what was wrong. Something had happened in the last four years that had changed her in a way I didn't think she'd ever change.

I pushed off the wall and decided to go for a walk and clear my head. I needed a nicer shirt to go out in anyway. I have a feeling Sakura would kill me if I walked into _the_ Hofuku club wearing the standard nin outfit I'm in now. Maybe a lighter shirt without a zipper… the pants would stay. I shrugged and took off at a slow pace to the market, hands in my pockets.

When Sakura made the decision to leave go about her day, she said it with a dimmed light in her eyes. There was no other way to describe her face. It was almost as if a darkness or a shadow overcast the cheeriness she displayed before. We had been having fun picking on each other. What ran through her complicated mind that made her miserable so suddenly? Maybe I wasn't one to really talk… maybe it was all the therapy I was forced to go to… but to me, that was a _bad _sign; not the sudden sadness I felt from her, but that _look_ in her eyes. She looked _old_. Different. Not Sakura…

Maybe she was dealing with something in secret? She was definitely repressing _somethi—_

"There you are!"

I looked up at the busy street in response to the voice. Suddenly, I was yanked from the side by my shirt into an alleyway and had my kunai at Ino's throat before I could finish my thought. Ino had her one hand up, the other around the collar of my shirt. She looked slightly frightened. She should be. Had I not seen her blonde hair and scanty purple outfit I would have probably pressed harder into her throat.

I sighed and shot her a glare for being stupid and surprising me, as I slowly and carefully pulled the blade away from her throat. Outside the narrow alley life moved on as usual. Not a single Konoha citizen just realized that Uchiha Sasuke had been _dragged _into an alley by Yamanaka Ino. I stared down at her. What was she doing here of all places?

"You must've been pretty lost in thought huh?" She commented, but shook her head. "Come on, I _just _ditched Sakura. You need to look good tonight." And she started walking.

Wait. What? She moved past me, but I didn't take a single step. If she thought I was going to participate as her male doll she had another thing coming. She stopped at the edge of the alley and glared at me, putting her hands on her hips.

"Okay I know we didn't expect Sakura to ask you to go. I'm _sorry_. But I'm not going to have you go there with her looking like _that_." She pointed at me with a sour look on her face.

What? What was wrong with my clothes? I looked down at the shirt and the pants I was wearing. It was combat gear. If Konoha were attacked right now I was fully loaded and ready to go for a fight.

"No." Ino spoke defiantly, as if she was in my head, reading my mind. "No weapons. No Uchiha crest. No nothing. You're going as a civilian." She bossed and I glared at her.

"No." Anything related to the word "civilian" that was tacked onto me was rejected immediately. I knew who I was. I wasn't going to pretend to be someone else because Ino was enjoying the fact that I would be suffering.

"_Yes_. Because Sakura hasn't had a good time in a while and I'll be _damned _if my best friend makes a mess of herself because _you're _away all night trying to peel girls off of you as they offer to bear your children." She huffed and I realized that she _actually _had a point. The Uchiha crest had been a target for women looking to put power into their families…_and _money. That was why I was so careful when I fucked. Also, we were in fire country. Most women here knew the story behind my name and the fact that I was absolved of my crimes and wondered when I'd start making babies. They'd probably kill to become the new Uchiha matriarch and what was worse was that I didn't have it in me to _not_ provide for someone who was depending on me. How many princesses had I escorted through the countries in secret over the last four years? How many letters did I get from their fathers asking me to marry their daughters so I could put more money behind my name? I rolled my eyes and followed her out of the alley. I wasn't going to deal with that tonight. I had a good, old-fashioned drinking contest to win.

"And is there _anything _we can do about your chicken-assed hair?" Ino whined as I gritted my teeth next to her.

"No." I growled, because my hair won't stay down. Period. Trust me, I've been trying since I was six. The only time it ever looked like something other than a chicken's ass was when I missed a few haircuts when I was three because Shisui-nii convinced me that ninjas needed haircuts to teach them about pain. When I asked how cutting hair had anything to do with learning about pain, he said that every hair hurt when it got cut, just like when you cut your fingers. The douchebag would have gotten along with Naruto perfectly.

I was terrified of scissors that _entire_ year. Itachi had to sit me down when I was four, explain to me that Shisui had played a joke and promised me that he of all people would never hurt me. After a lot of coaxing and reassuring, he had been the first person to put scissors near my head in an entire year. I think I remember my father actually _smiling_ because I didn't look like a little girl anymore. I smirked at the memory.

"Well whatever it'll have to do. Maybe we can gel it." She led me to some upscale men's outfitters store and I rolled my eyes again. Gel wouldn't help it. It was a lost cause. Why were we playing "dress-up with Sasuke" again? I could suddenly see why Sakura wasn't looking forward to buying an outfit with Ino.

"Gel won't help it." I said once we were inside. I looked around. "That shirt and those pants. Let's go." I pointed vaguely at some folded clothes here and there and Ino swiftly turned around and glared at me and my efforts to cut this trip short. Apparently I pissed her off.

"No. You're going to wear what _I _say you're going to wear because _you're _my _best friend's _date! I will _not _let your 'whatever' attitude ruin her night."

I wondered why what I wore tonight mattered in the first place? It's not like Sakura would be looking at _me_. She wasn't interested. I noticed that Ino disappeared somewhere further into the store. I heard a snicker and turned to find a civilian man looking browsing through some folded shirts.

"Your girlfriend has one hell of a best friend." The man, middle-aged, tall with sandy, long hair and brown eyes commented.

"I don't have a girlfriend." I commented flatly. "I just have insane comrades." Because that was the truth. Really, sometimes I wondered if the people around me were any les insane than I was. Ino definitely needed therapy for her obsession with other people and their lives… and I didn't know about Sakura yet, because she wasn't open about it, but Sakura was going to need therapy for something sometime soon too. Kakashi needed therapy because everyone he ever loved had died as well, and from what I understood, Sai didn't have emotions until four years ago. We were all insane. I think Naruto was the only one out of all of us that was sane.

"Ah, so you're trying to make that girl's best friend your girlfriend." He sounded like he thought he hit the nail on the head. I shook my head.

"No. I'm just doing a favor for a sick friend." I resisted the urge to smirk. Yamanaka was probably shitting his pants in his bed right now.

His eyes focused on the tiny Uchiha crest on one of my black wrist warmers, then jumped up to study my brother's necklace around my neck. He knew I was a shinobi and knew that I knew he was scrutinizing me. I kind of didn't care because we were in a store, I had nothing better to do and I was used to being analyzed by everyone older than me.

"Ah, you're that Uchiha kid, aren't you?" No shit. The Uchiha crest wasn't a dead giveaway? The man looked me up and down. "Well, you're not exactly a kid anymore, but you're still a kid to me. Wanna know how to make a woman happy? It's simple, really." He meant no perversions by his statement, but I wasn't interested in the secrets of life right now.

"No." I denied.

"You do." He argued calmly. From the corner of my left eye I saw Ino flitting about the store like she owned it and I rolled my eyes. Well, it's not like following her around was any more interesting…

"Fine." I walked closer to him because nowI had agreed to have a _discussion_ and it was rude to stand too far away from someone who was trying to talk with you. I stood with my arms at my sides, like I would in front of any sensei. Apparently this man had wisdom to pass on and had chosen me to be the one who heard it.

"Is the girl a kunoichi?" He suddenly asked. I narrowed my eyes at him. He was supposed to impart wisdom on me, not inquire about Sakura.

"Wow, that's a hostile look." He commented with a surprised whistle. He was wearing clothing similar to what was in this store. For a middle aged man he was decently in shape. Maybe he had been a shinobi at some point? Whatever. He was wearing dark grey slacks, strange, close-toed shoes I had never seen before except maybe on the island of the Crescent Moon, and a crisp, high-end, black, button-up with a nice collar and a shocking cerulean blue tie that reminded me of Naruto's eyes.

"You wanted to give me advice, not ask about the woman I'll be seeing tonight." I reminded him.

"Humor me anyway. Is she a kunoichi?" He asked again.

I analyzed him. He seemed to analyze me right back. There was _that_ look. He had been a shinobi once. Long, _long_ ago. Had the third Great War traumatized him in some way that made him quit? He gave me an encouraging smile. Yes. Definitely. He cared way too much to kill. Out of pity, I _did_ humor him.

"She is a _shinobi_." Because Sakura wasn't just a kunoichi. She wasn't anything like Ino or Ten-Ten or Hinata or the countless other kunoichi I've had the annoyance of working with. She was entirely something else. She had brains, braun, sex appeal, _and _wit. She could heal and she could destroy. I had seen her do it all the last time I had seen her fight. She held the title of anbu, so I was certain she was still as skilled as I remember, if not even _more _so. I surprised myself with that train of thought… I still remembered when I viewed her as someone that was only good for standing around and pretending to be threatening. In all honesty when she was younger she didn't really _deserve _to call herself a ninja. She was an analyst at best. A ninja on paper at most, but today I'm glad she stayed in the field. She had saved my brother. She had fought hard. She had changed in good ways as well as bad. She was my _teammate_ and recently, I felt she'd make a trustworthy comrade. I'd trust having her watching my back. I suspected that trust would grow after we sparred the day after tomorrow. 

"A _shinobi_ you say?" He caught on to what I meant. Smart man. I wonder if he's from any prominent clan. If I were to guess I would say maybe Nara or Sarutobi if only for his hair and eye color.

"Ah, a shinobi." I confirmed with a smirk. I hadn't initially liked him, but he was starting to grow on me. He treated me like an old friend instead of a new one.

"Must be one hell of a woman. You should make her feel like one." He arranged some shirts as he confused me. He must work here, but anyway…

What the _fuck_ was that supposed to even mean? That was like telling me to make a dog feel like a dog, or a bird like a bird. They were dogs and birds. They should feel like dogs and birds already, no? It's not like a hawk felt like a pigeon on some days and like a cat on others...

I must have let my expression slip because the man laughed.

"Listen, kid. Women who have the honor of calling themselves shinobi don't often feel like women at all. Remind her that she is still delicate and can lean on you in moments of weakness." He spoke with a secretive wink, much like Ino did when she had something helpful to say for once.

I contemplated his words. They were simple but when you thought about them, brilliant. A woman who had to fight like a man must feel masculine and attraction was biologically based on gender roles. _Biologically_. It was what attracted women to men and men to women. A woman would logically be attracted to a man who was stronger than her and could defend her and her young and a man would be attracted to a woman who could properly raise his young, a woman he could come home to and trust that his offspring was fed and that his lineage would continue. Of course there were hundreds of other factors like scent and hair color and what sex you were actually attracted to in many cases and whatever, but basically that was what it was at its core. Women liked men who could make them _feel _feminine. But I wasn't going on a "date", per se, and I wasn't trying to attract anyone so he was wrong to assume I should show off how masculine I was, especially to Sakura. The guy had the wrong idea. Great advice, but definitely the wrong person to give it to.

"I'll make sure to tell the next guy that dates her." I spoke factually.

"Ah, _if_ there's a 'next guy that dates her'. I have a feeling you might not let it come to that." He bowed as I contemplated how much gall he had to have to say that to me, and turned around to disappear into a back room. So he _did_ work here. Interesting…

"There you are. You only moved two feet from where I last left you? I expected you to have at least three shirts ready, Sasuke-kun." If Ino wasn't a friend, I'd punch her. As I turned around to face her, my eyes widened at the heap of clothes she had in both of her arms. There was a pile of pants stacked five squares high on her left arm, and a pile of shirts also stacked five squares high on her right arm. No way was I trying on five outfits, because really, did you honestly think bossy Ino would let me leave without trying clothes on? No. I knew what was going to happen when I agreed to leave that alley with her, but still, I was _not_ going to try on _five_ different outfits.

Remember that bit about being masculine? Shopping factored into that. Men shopped differently than women. We weren't attracted by stupid shit like shine, cut, fabric, or color. If it were me by myself I would have picked a shirt, found the right size and just trusted it to fit when I got home. Done. And when I got home it would fit perfectly because men didn't come in a thousand different shapes. You were either fit, or fat or something in between. Regardless of how much you did or didn't stick out in this or that place you were still shaped like an inverted triangle so all the clothes were cut relatively the same way. It was the measurements that mattered and if you knew your measurements then trying on clothes didn't matter.

But again, I agreed to go to this store with Ino. So I'd try on clothes to double check, but I wasn't going to try on five shirts and five pants. Hell no.

"Narrow it down to two outfits and I'll pick whichever one I like best. I'm not going to waste time." I spoke with a tone of finality and she frowned but didn't look like she was going to argue much.

She tsked and looked offended. "You have 'till like ten!" She pointed out. Leave it to Ino to keep trying. She was almost as bad as Naruto.

"I still have to eat." Because I wasn't going to go drink on an empty stomach tonight. _That_ was a bad idea. Drinking reminded me of Sakura, whether or not that was a good or bad thing, and I had to ask… "Where's Sakura? She told me you'd drag her to your house to play dress-up." Because if what was _supposed _to happen after they shopped, happened, then I wouldn't be here suffering Ino's wrath. Ino smirked.

"I sent her home because Suchiru looks like he's plotting something. I didn't want her to get any funny ideas about talking to him." Ino explained. I see… that was smart. If Yamanaka was out of Sakura's sight, then he was out of her mind.

"You haven't explicitly called him out on his games?" I queried next, because it would be weird of her if she didn't. Ino had the type of loud personality that would get in someone's face if they tried to hurt someone close to her. To my surprise, however she shook her head.

"Clan politics." She shrugged. "I'm technically the clan head. I'll lose the support of my family if I start fights with a distant cousin over Sakura. I have to look out for myself too ya know." She chastised.

I nodded because I knew what that was like. Clan politics were taught to children of prominent clans from a young age. They were taught to both me and Itachi when we were old enough to speak and understand. Leading was something we were born and bred to do and Ino was right in every way by not directly confronting Suchiru about his personal business. It would literally cause _bad blood_ between them. I watched as she pulled out two pairs of pants and two shirts.

"Go try them on. These go with this and these go with that." She separated the two outfits, piled them on top of each other and pointed to the fitting room. I sighed, knowing this was completely unnecessary, but went in anyway.

I decided on picking a black, collared tee made of high-end fabrics with a pair of grey pants made from some new material I wasn't familiar with. The other outfit's shirt was red and the pants were a bit too tight. Red was Sakura's color and I liked to have something that I could move in so I forgoed the second outfit. Black and grey was my color scheme anyway. I put my nin clothes back on and stepped out with the first outfit under my arm and the second one in my hand. I handed the second outfit to Ino who smiled and held up a strange pair of dark blue high-topped, close-toed shoes.

"Good; you picked the jeans and the polo." She commented cheerfully.

Was that what they were called? I looked idly at the outfit under my arms. Which one was jeans? Which one was "polo"? Was "polo" the weird fabric that the pants were made of? I looked at Ino, confused. She shook her head, ponytail swishing, and laughed.

"Nevermind it's popular in all the civilian magazines. These shoes will match it. You're a twelve in shoe size right?" She asked and I nodded. "Good. Go buy all this, oh! And take this!" She handed me a leather belt with a square, silver buckle. I hated belts and frowned at it. She shoved it further into my hands and I understood. I had no say in this. _Fine_. Ino was like an aggravating younger sibling. Was I _this_ annoying to Itachi when I was little? I briefly remembered forcing him to eat tomatoes with me when I was younger and frowned. He had always just smiled, even though he didn't like tomatoes. They were always too acidic for his stomach. He liked onigiri the best. I smiled… maybe I'll go have some onigiri after this… If I remember correctly, Itachi's favorites were the ones with salmon inside.

"Thank you for your business Uchiha-sama!" I didn't even realize that I had paid and that the cashier was a middle-aged woman with carrot-colored hair tied in a sleek bun and honey eyes. She had a ring on her ring finger and if I remember correctly the former shinobi who had given me advice earlier had a ring on his finger too. Aha… they were married. I smirked at her and bowed as I took my change and the bag she held out to me. "Uchiha-sama" was a new phrase to hear. I didn't know if I liked the way it sounded, but it reminded me of the times civilians addressed my father. I noticed Ino was smirking at me at the entrance to the store. I walked out with her in tow.

"All right _Uchiha-sama_. I'm done torturing you, but before you go, make sure you don't forget about our deal. You have to take Sakura out on a date." She reminded in her bossy tone.

"I already have a date planned with her." I shrugged as we stopped just outside the store.

Ino's teal eyes were saucers but she recovered from her shock quickly enough.

"Heh, you move fast, Sasuke-kun. Where are you guys going?" She asked curiously.

I smirked evilly and Ino's face fell.

"I'm taking her to Choji's family restaurant to feed her spicy food." I responded as if it was the best form of torture in the world.

Ino gaped at me.

"Sakura _hates_ spicy food!" Ino shrieked to the point where some curious civilians turned their heads towards us briefly. I ignored them.

"And I hate being drunk at clubs. So that makes me even with both you and her. You have your machinations fulfilled, she has her fun tonight and I have my revenge for tonight." I shrugged. It was as simple as that. After Ino recovered from her shock she shook her head.

"There are no words to describe your kind, Sasuke-kun." She chastised but smiled anyway. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a complement or an insult. "All right. I'm gonna go make sure Suchiru is taking care of himself. Have fun and if you ever feel like talking…" She trailed off, waved and turned around after I nodded, because we both knew I was going to be going to her from now on when I needed an unbiased opinion. Ino had only been my therapist for a short time, but she was damn good at her job. It helped that she had been around me when we were younger. I had an easier time talking with her than the other strangers I had to _force _myself to communicate with about personal things in order to pass the tests they were giving me. When they started asking emotional questions about my personal feelings on this matter or that I had just shut down because they were strangers and they didn't deserve to know that I missed my big brother.

It was then that Ino was brought in. Knowing her helped me respond properly and honestly and as a result the psych evaluations eventually became more than good enough for me to be reinstated as a Konoha shinobi, even though Ino had pushed me too far and I had blown up on her as a result two or three times during the process. I watched her retreating back for a few seconds more before I went my own way, back to the apartment complex.

On my way there, I stopped at my brother's grave and spent a good hour talking to him. The tiger-lillies Sakura had left there the other day were still beautiful. After that detour, when I came home I had the honor of listening to Sakura's blow drier for about half an hour while I tried meditating. I showered, towel-dried my hair and dressed in the clothes Ino practically forced me to buy. I fished out a pair of socks from my dresser that I never really ever wore but had just in case, and practiced walking around in the strange, blue shoes Ino had, again, _forced_ me to buy. They felt constricting and made it difficult to channel chakra to the bottom of my feet. Even more annoying were the rubber soles. Your chakra needed to be at a certain _frequency_ to bleed through them to the floor below. Eventually I managed to stick my foot to the floor, with a little bit of an adjustment to my chakra. I practiced walking up my wall. After taking three steps up, I fell and hit my head on the floor, _hard_. I got pissed and tried again. A half hour later I managed to walk up my wall. I was bored because it wasn't ten yet, it was only 9:45, so I hung from my ceiling for a while in these weird shoes, looking at my apartment, up-side down. I bent over once the blood rushed to my head too much and crawled over the ceiling. Ew. The tops of my cabinets in the kitchen needed dusting. I'd have to do that later. Eventually, I killed a spider and stood straight again. I walked across the ceiling once more and stopped just above my black leather couch in the living room. I released the chakra at my feet, flipped and landed in a relaxed position on the couch. I decided to eat some leftovers from earlier this afternoon because again, I was _not_ going to drink on an empty stomach. So I sat up, lifted myself off of the couch, grabbed the plastic container from inside my small refrigerator and stuck the food in the tiny microwave on my counter. I re-heated, ate, went to brush my teeth and just like that, there was a knock on my door at ten-thirty.

I opened my door… and there stood Sakura. I didn't know which of us I wanted to kill first, because she was _not_ going to make the night easy for me… That had to be the sexiest dress I had ever seen on _anyone_ and I have seen some _sexy_ women.

"Yo." Good. My voice came out cool, calm and unfazed.

"Let's go, we're already supposed to be at the gates." She grumbled almost under her breath. I found it funny how we both decided that we'd go together when she was ready without even speaking or seeing each other. I nodded in response to her because I didn't trust my mouth to say anything else smart. I locked my apartment behind me and strode down the hallway.

Click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click—_clack_

"Sasuke, slow down! Jashin, damn it!" She cursed.

I stopped halfway down the hall. She hadn't gotten very far past my door. I cocked a brow. She was glaring at her feet. I checked her legs out…slowly, from top to bottom… and found that she was pissed about her shoes. She had sky-high heels on and I wasn't surprised she couldn't walk at a regular pace in them. I smirked. You could dress Sakura up as a model, but you could never make her _act _like a model. I walked back towards her.

"What now?" I asked. Because I sure as hell wasn't going to carry her. The last thing I needed was my wood showing through these pants. I'd never live that down because that fucking Nara would be the first to notice and her legs, around my waist would definitely make me hard.

"Ugh hang on. I'll just…" She wasn't focusing on me anymore. She was fishing through the tiny white and red purse(? was it considered a purse?) she was holding onto. She was a bit taller in her shoes but I could still see far enough down her dress from above. I briefly looked away. Fuck. I _couldn't _look away. I was a shinobi, so I was adept at noticing details. Sakura's dress was white with a red lace pattern over it. It only covered about half of her thighs and dipped _just_ low enough in the front to see some of her cleavage. It was skin tight and for some reason my mind instantly deduced that she was not wearing anything else under it. Then again, the fabric was somewhat thick so I could be wrong. Regardless it was this sexy and _just_ barely revealing her goods on _purpose_.

It actually took me an entire two minutes to realize she had her hair clipped up in a twist with a white hair pin accented with red flowers. Something looked different about her face but I couldn't tell what it was. Thicker-looking lashes maybe? Hell if I know. I'm too busy staring at her legs… and her ass… and every other part of her I wish I could see…

I swallowed hard. And looked away as I heard something "poof" and then "poof" again. Oh. Sakura had come prepared. She had sealed her heels into a piece of paper, and stored them in her square purse thing and slipped on a pair of flat, red shoes. Out of her heels she was shorter but her legs looked no less appetizing. She was toned and strong. Nothing like the civilian girls I was used to. She was lithe and I could tell she was an efficient killer. That fact only turned me on more about her. Remember that thing I said about danger and liking it? Yes, this entire situation was dangerous, but I really, _really _liked it. This was becoming unhealthy… I would have some serious blue balls later if I kept focusing on thoughts like this.

"Fucking Ino and her fucking heels." Sakura grumbled. She smelled expensive. And I realized she must have blown a lot of money tonight on her jewelry. She had dangling earrings. They were simple and long but they were made with _real_ rubies. You didn't need a sharingan to be able to tell that those weren't fake… She also had on a single, fat bracelet that I could tell was made of real bone. Red designs were carved and painted into it. Fucking Ino… making Sakura more attractive than I already thought she was.

If I managed to somehow get drunk tonight I don't think I could keep my stupid mouth shut… Every alarm I had was going off in my head as my heart pounded out of pure nervousness. Tonight… _might_ not end well if she looks _that_ appetizing… My only conclusion was that I couldn't drink with her… there was just no way I could. If I drank enough tonight there was little to stop me from flirting with her and it would be completely unintentional. And she would end up crying, call me an asshole and tell me I was too late and that she hated me for leaving her on a bench. I hated me for leaving her on a bench.

Maybe if I constantly repeated "don't fuck up" like a mantra _before_ I drank, I'd remember not to fuck up _while _I drank. Should I just pretend to be sick? No that won't work she's a fucking doctor. Are we walking already? Oh right I was following her down the hall before I caught up to her just a few minutes ago. We were now outside. When did we get outside and how had we climbed down all those steps already? Focus, Sasuke. Focus. Shit. Should I just go back home? My eyes shot a weary glance at the apartment building as we stepped outside into the warm, summer night. But she looked so damn _good_. What if something happened to her at the club?

"Sasuke?"

What?

"Mn?" I asked. She was cocking a pink brow, an expectant look on her face. Shit. She had said something. I was too busy thinking to notice.

"I said that you look nice." She repeated.

"Ah. You too." I replied quietly. Because when all else fails just shut your mouth and be quiet. Just shut up, Sasuke. Don't talk.

"Thanks. I don't know how I'm going to dance in those heels." She laughed. And I glowered at the ground beneath my feet. If she put those shoes back on someone else would stare at her legs because they'd look even _sexier_. And I'd probably trip the asshole to see him fall on his face just because. Great. Now I was simulating fake situations in my mind.

Get a _grip_, Sasuke…

Sakura was quiet. That was weird. I wished she would talk so I could ignore her. There was an odd tension between us for some reason that I sensed but couldn't speak about with her. We were walking with a decent amount of space between us as well. It felt like we were two tornadoes. If we touched something devastating and serious would happen… or is that just how _I _feel? Maybe _I _need to relax? I felt tense and on edge and I realized it was because I was so fucking _turned on _by Sakura. That was wrong. Friend. Teammate. Sex wrong with friend-teammate. I felt like smacking my palm against the center of my face. My body didn't get it.

Fine. I'd just have to think about something depressing to give it the message.

I thought about how I almost died in the war. I thought about my family dying. I thought about all the sick experiments Orochimaru did and the sick things he made me ingest. I thought about how kabuto disappeared and no one knows where he is. I thought about how Orochimaru was out there… I thought about… I thought about that night I left, for some reason. All the memories brought me right back around to that night. That was a difficult night. How did Sakura know I would leave then? _At that exact time_. Was it instinct?

"_To me, you leaving is like being alone!" _

"_I love you!" _

"…_Then take me with you!" _

Her voice echoed in my mind. I shuddered. Thank kami-sama I left her behind, where she was _safe_. Orochimaru would have done sick things to her too.

"_Ah, so you've brought a test subject with you… wonderful Sasuke-kun."_ He would say something along those lines. That night…. Sakura probably didn't know it, but I actually felt _bad_ for what I was going to do. I knew how dependent she was on me and Naruto. The only comfort I had was that Naruto would be there for her and she'd be there for him. They'd be _fine_ without me. And they were, of course. They had each other. Maybe me leaving was even _better _for them because it motivated them to fuck me up and bring me home and in order to do that they'd have to become freakishly powerful.

Anyway, I listened to every word she said that night. I knew I had a hard life ahead of me. Back then the plan was simple and straight forward. I was thinking of deserting Konoha, killing Orochimaru when I was done using him and then afterwards killing my brother and coming back home. I didn't do anything _against _Konoha that entire time and I didn't plan on it. But things had changed and _drastically_. Somewhere along the way between all of the suffering and loneliness _everything _changed.

But it didn't make me any less grateful that Sakura loved me regardless of how fucked up I was towards her. That was what was defined as 'unconditional love'. That was something you didn't get from anyone but your family and it had been a long time since anyone had told me they were there for me if I needed them. Actually, if I were to be completely honest, no one had _ever _said anything remotely similar to that since the clan was massacred. I didn't return her feelings, but for her feelings towards me, I thanked her. I wanted that "thank you" to be the last thing she remembered me saying so there wouldn't be any hard feelings when I came back, but _damn _those two, they caught up to me along the way anyway.

And then I had found out the truth and allowed myself to be manipulated. If it weren't for finding Itachi in the woods that day we stopped the Edo Tensei… Who knows? I don't know where I'd be. Regardless, I found it funny how I've been back for four years and Sakura never asked me why I thanked her that night. She never brought up that night despite how important it really is. I wanted to bring it up, because I was curious, but I wouldn't because I knew it was still a sore spot for her. I wanted to apologize to her but I didn't know how or where to begin but at that night. I had done a lot over the years to hurt her, actually... even _before _that night.

I ignored her when we were kids.

I ignored her in the academy.

I was pissed at her for being a bitch to Naruto and so I said things to hurt her.

I ignored her when we were teammates.

I treated her like a girl that needed to be protected when she really just needed to learn how to stand on her own two feet.

I denied her every time she wanted to get to know me better. It would have helped the team instead.

I told her she could never understand, when really, maybe she could.

I was cold to her when she was kind to me.

I denied every offer of comfort she sent my way.

I denied her every time she asked to train, when really it would have helped her, me and Naruto in the end.

I resented her for jumping in front of me and saving me when we fought Gaara.

I never thanked her, not even once. Ever. Not throughout our entire young lives. Not until the night I left.

I never praised her for her intelligence. It had saved both Naruto and I several times. But she didn't get a single complement, whereas it would have mattered to her the most if I had just offered her a few kind words instead of leaving Naruto to that task.

"_Wow, Sakura-chan! That's really smart!" _

"_Thanks Naruto."_

I ignored her when she was there for me at the hospital the day after my brother nearly destroyed my mind.

I smacked away the apples that she had worked hard to peel for _me_ right out of her hands. _That_ was fucked up. My mother would have rolled in her grave seeing that kind of behavior from me towards a _girl_; a _scared _girl that was _worried_ about the boy she loved_. _

I'm not even done with this list. It goes on. It gets heavier and darker.

I almost killed Naruto in front of her when we fought on the roof of the hospital. I almost killed_ her_ that same moment and almost made Naruto kill her too, because she had thrown herself in front of us, knowing what that kind of power would do to me, him, and everyone else in the hospital if those two attacks connected. Thank kami-sama for Kakashi.

Oh. Let's backtrack into the forest of death during the chunin exam. I traumatized her, broke a guy's arms in front of her, and told her to shut up about my curse mark when it was obviously weighing on her conscience, worrying her. I also let her get beat up because I was too busy being unconscious.

I missed her match against Ino. In retrospect, it was important to her, so it should have mattered to me as her teammate but I wasn't _there_. If I was, I wouldn't have congratulated her anyway, even if the match wasn't declared a tie and she had won.

I left her after she told me she loved me almost more than she loved herself. I pissed all over her devotion and every word she said to me the night I left. I made her cry and I made her dishonor herself by _begging _me to stay. No girl should _ever_ be put in that position.

I didn't acknowledge her when she busted into Orochimaru's underground base. I had been falsely angry with_ her _and treated her coldly because I was pissed that they found a replacement for me. I was pissed that _she_ replaced me even though she was _right there_. I made her feel like she didn't exist that day. She tried to ignore that feeling, but it was _there_. I saw it in her eyes: _Sasuke-kun doesn't even care_.

Then… I had demanded that she kill Karin, knowing full well she had become a healer, a medic: someone who gives life, not takes it. I had played games with her, despite knowing she was there to assassinate me.

I had almost put a hole through her back with my raiton. Back then… I was going to rip her heart out through her back. That was the image I had for her in my mind: Sakura, with her hearting beating its last in my bloodiedhand. Dead. Again, thank _kami-sama_ for Kakashi.

Later that same day I had grabbed her by her throat. I had almost stabbed her with a poisoned kunai. No woman, shinobi or not, should be grabbed by the throat and nearly stabbed by a man she _still _loved. That was _wrong_.

With my actions I pushed her into thinking she had the responsibility of killing me off in the first place, not for anyone else's sake but my own. She was willing to be hated forever by Naruto so she could kill me and save me from myself.

I'm not surprised she wasn't the one to heal me on the battlefield and bring me back from the edge of death. I'm not surprised she rushed to help Naruto instead. Maybe after that day that I almost killed her she began to stop feeling the same way for me. Maybe that's when she got over me: when I basically shoved it in her face that her life meant nothing to me… her _life_. Not just her, but her _life. _A person could go on knowing they didn't mean anything to someone they loved. But knowing that their _life_ didn't matter to the person they loved… that was low… Maybe she had realized she was worth more than that kind of treatment after that.

Actually… when you look at the big picture and how much of a piece of shit I was to her our _entire_ lives, not counting these last two or three days… I didn't deserve to be here, walking next to her. Actually, scratch that. I was _still_ being a piece of shit to her… It's just that this last week I've been a _secret_ piece of shit to her. She liked a guy who I poisoned with the stomach flu with the aid of her best friend (that sounded sociopathic, even to me). She should be having _fun _with that guy… even _if_ he was a piece of shit too, instead of being here with me, walking in silence and tension.

Yamanaka was a piece of shit. He was a womanizing asshole. But he had never tried to _kill_ Sakura and it would never cross his mind to do that, but her death by my hands had crossed _mine _at some point. If you looked at things logically and clearly, it didn't _matter_ how much I had changed. It didn't _matter _that I had friends and that some people had realized I had changed for the better and respected me for it. None of it mattered because none of it changed what I had already _done_ to this woman in the past. I suddenly stopped just a few blocks away from the gate. Why was she my friend? What was wrong with her? Why hasn't she punched me yet for all of that? Why is she still even _speaking _to me and being _civil_ with me…?

Simple. Sakura is just a much better person at heart than I am.

"Sasuke?" She looked so fucking beautiful and she deserved to be laughing even if it was with a guy who's going to cheat on her. She didn't deserve to be here in silence and stress with _me_ after all I'd done to her because _I _thought changing would somehow redeem everything I did.

"I should go home." I looked her square in her jade eyes because now I was serious _and_ depressed. Because I had realized just how _shitty_ I had been to her. I had been shitty to Naruto, but I had been _vicious_ to her. Naruto could handle my bullshit. Sakura couldn't because she had always been more emotionally invested in me than Naruto. She was also intelligent. Every cold and harsh word I spoke was interpreted _with intelligence_. Naruto was stubborn, stupid and optimistic. My words didn't affect his emotions or his mind as much as they did Sakura's.

"What?" She was looking at me like I was speaking a different language, a genuinely confused look on her pretty face. I picked up her slightly cool hand. Her skin was soft, but her fingers were calloused. I crushed my pass into her palm and curled her fingers around it. Her eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry Sakura." She had no idea how much I meant those words…

Dropping her hand was a bad idea… or a good one. I don't know because maybe I deserved what happened next.

*Smack!* Lightning-fast, she slapped me right across the face with her other hand. The sound echoed off of the tree trunks lining the dirty road. If I expected it, I had _let_ her do it. My head snapped to the side so fast I felt my neck crack. For a moment, I thought she actually broke my neck. My face felt hot on that side and my skin was stinging. I thought I was bleeding. No one was skilled enough to hurt my face and even though I had already started shaving, the skin there was still soft; sensitive, even. It _hurt_ but I wasn't upset, because I had deserved it… because I was the piece of shit that rained on her _entire_ life for my own, stupid, selfish reasons that weren't good enough to warrant such abhorrent behavior in the first place.

"Don't be an asshole, Sasuke." She said softly, too softly. She sounded fragile. I recovered from the blow and looked at her, dumbfounded. Wait, was it _worse_ that I decided to ditch her? Was I just adding another fucked up thing to my list of "Fucked up Things I've done to Sakura"? She pressed the pass back to my chest and I could only look at her. Her eyes were slightly watery. Was she going to cry?

Just what the _hell_ did I do?

"Nevermind. I shouldn't have forced you. It was stupid to ask you anyway. I'm sorry for asking and I'm sorry for hitting you." Her words were stiff; they were the right words to say in this scenario but I knew her mind was saying something else; I just didn't know what. Her eyes were cold. They were like steel. She had the expression of an anbu, which was no readily apparent expression at all. Her face was a stone mask. I realized she would never open herself up enough to cry in front of me again. You allowed yourself to cry in front of your precious people. To her, I wasn't in that category anymore and I didn't blame her. I couldn't cry in front of me either if I were in her shoes.

She let the ticket flutter off of my shirt and to the ground as she slipped her delicate hand off of my chest and walked ahead of me, intent on continuing without me, despite not wanting to.

Then something… fucking _snapped_ inside my mind. I swear I almost heard the sound of it in my ears. I grabbed her by her wrist above her white bracelet just before she was out of my reach. I think I grabbed her too hard because her entire body stiffened, ready to fight me if necessary. My face felt fucking swollen but I ignored it. Where do I begin? How do I stop this screw-up from getting worse?

"It wasn't stupid to ask me to go with you. Don't apologize for anything." Okay. What now? What fucking now? Say something… What do I say?

"Pick a decision Sasuke. What the fuck is wrong with you?" She turned around and now she was glaring at me. Yeah, I was being flaky but again, _what do I say_? Should I tell her that I screwed over her potential boyfriend? Should I apologize afterwards for doing that and then begin apologizing for every single thing on the "Fucked up Things I've Done to Sakura" list? How do I even play this off?

Then the lies tumbled from my mouth with practiced ease. I was used to lying and lying well. It was comfortable to lie because I was actually _afraid_ of telling her my thoughts. I was afraid of what that kind of negativity would do to… whatever the fuck this was between us. What do you even call it? A fragile friendship? Because that's what it felt like to me.

"I hate people. We have to drink a lot tonight to compensate for that."

I didn't hate people and I didn't want to drink a lot to compensate for that. Fuck it. It was already out of my mouth. She cocked an eyebrow, probably debating on whether or not she should go along with my bullshit. Did she even know it was bullshit?

"You mean to tell me you hate clubs so much that you'd _actually _ditch me to be Shikamaru and Temari's third fucking wheel, Sasuke?" No she had no idea it was bullshit. She was genuinely mad.

I lied to Sakura; another awful thing to add onto the list. Regardless, I nodded and shrugged dumbly because if I opened my mouth another stupid fucking sentence would come out. Then she fucking _laughed._

"You're an idiot. Pick up your stupid dirty pass and come on. I can almost see them at the gate and we still have a forty-five minute walk before we actually get to the place." She shook her head, wiggled her tiny wrist out of my loosened grip and continued walking. I stared at the purple and black pass on the floor…

Well… that went well?

I picked it up and dusted it off. Whatever. I had to stop being an asshole. I was already her friend; I may as well start compensating her for everything I'd done to her. Starting now. Right fucking now, actually. I followed her until I caught up and she stopped me, placing a hand on my wrist.

"Stop for a second." She commanded.

I stopped right there without hesitation. I looked at her, and then I couldn't _stop_ looking at her, _everywhere_. My eyes tried to drink in _every _bit of her when she spoke to me. What the _fuck_ was she doing to my mind? She lifted her hand and touched my stinging cheek. I winced, because my face still hurt. _Kami-sama_ she could hit hard. I felt bad for Naruto because he had gotten hit by her way more often than I did. No wonder it never affected him much when I punched him during our sparing sessions. I felt her chakra flicker to life and I reacted. I tensed, because having chakra so close to my face was never a good thing. It was just a reflex, but she rolled her eyes.

"Relax, Sasuke, I won't mess up your award-winning looks." She then smirked. I couldn't even respond. Nothing smart-assed came out of my mouth. I just tried to relax as she healed my face. I felt like putting my hand on top of hers. Why? Who the hell knows? I don't know why. If you know, you can tell me when you figure it out, but right now, I don't know. All I know is that I wanted to make it all up to her.

I made it all up to Naruto. I made it all up to Kakashi. I made it all up to the Hokage. I made it all up to my brother because I'm sure by now he knows I have the life he wanted for me. But I hadn't made it up to Sakura; the one person who I had probably burnt the most next to Itachi. I was actually _motivated _to _not_ be an asshole to her anymore. So I let her do as she pleased. I let her heal my face because _she_ wanted to. I stopped being selfish. If it were up to me, I'd have let myself suffer because I deserved that smack, but Sakura was forgiving and Sakura was selfless so I just let her be herself for once and didn't give her any problems for it.

"I don't want Shikamaru thinking I slapped you because you said or did something perverted." She explained with that same smirk on her face. Even now she was healing me not only to relieve the pain, but so that people wouldn't also get the wrong idea about me. She was always so selfless no matter how much shit people put her through. She was done a few seconds later and I just silently walked alongside her, feeling marginally better than before now that I had cleared my head. I felt better now that I had a new perspective, regarding Sakura. I didn't feel like we were in limbo anymore. I knew what I had to do.

There was no greater comfort than that found in clarity and assurance.

-X-

AWWWWWWWWWW! Sasuke's such a fucking drama king. But he wouldn't be Sasuke if he wasn't. And he wouldn't get to change for the better if he didn't do shitty, selfish, things and feel bad about them later.

Well that was one hell of a chapter. But if was SO MUCH FUN to write. I _looooove _writing Sasuke. I honestly never know what's going to jump onto the page when I get into his shoes. Sasuke surprises me, definitely. Did this chapter surprise you? What did you like the most about it if you liked it? What did you dislike the most if you disliked it? LET ME KNOW. Review. Do you like the fact that the POV switches alternate from chapter to chapter now?

Next chapter I will be writing from Sakura's POV as promised.

Again, please review because I feel like Sakura's POV could use some work. I don't know how to make it better. I don't even know if I write her well. I feel like I connect with Sasuke's "reformed" personality better than I connect with Sakura's "troubled" personality.

I had dealt with a lot of problems in my lifetime and I don't deal with my issues like a woman. I deal with them like a man. Maybe that's why Sasuke is just easier to slip into. If I were Sakura I would just confront people about the elephant in the room but she's not the type to rock the emotional boat like that so she's a little harder to write for me. Also Kishimoto has given me the finger by making her personality _really _feminine, compared to mine at least. I think I have to tap into her bruteness a little bit but that will definitely happen in the later chapters because her and Sasuke still have to spar and train together at some point. Lol I imagine those chapters will be fun and easy to write because it will be simple psychological territory to traverse. I can connect with _her_ "shinobi" side. Her emotional side though? Little bit difficult, there.

Anyway again, _please _review. I am _dying _to hear what you guys have to say about this chapter because it's a _big _step in the right direction for Sasuke.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ™ - I don't even know if that ™ should even be there, but _anyway_. I don't own it and I don't make any profits writing this. It's just a fun writing experiment that I've fallen madly in love with.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	9. Drink and Tell

KISEKI

|9|

Sasuke could be as dumb as Naruto at times. Seriously, what was _with _guys? They seemed to just turn off their braincells sometimes. _I_ didn't give a _damn _about Sasuke's supposed "social anxiety". I was going to drink and have fun tonight for my friend. For my romantic interest. _No matter what_. I was upset at what he said, because I thought he didn't want to be seen around with me, but… that _dummy_. He was such a drama queen sometimes! Jeez, kami-sama _forbid_ he steps out of his comfort zone for a night! Tch.

I waved at Temari and an unwilling Shikamaru excitedly. Temari looked _so_ gorgeous! Her usually wild blonde hair was straight and loose, her blonde bangs pushed to the side. She was wearing light makeup and a beautiful cerulean blue party dress that was tight around her top, criss-crossed around her back and fluttered away at her waist. She had _killer _black stilettos on that she could walk in _way _better than me. I wanted her calves for myself. I hate not having patience for heels. The Suna kunoichi was taller than me too, damn it. I smirked at Shikamaru; the lucky bastard. He had a badass kunoichi _and_ a proper girlfriend all in one.

Speaking of Shikamaru, Temari had made him shave _and _he was actually wearing _white! _He had a black button-up on, under which he wore a white tee. The white shirt was tight and showed off the pecs that even his royal laziness had busted his butt to earn. He wore grey jeans, like Sasuke, so I figured they were popular this summer amongst civilians. He had black and white, low-top shoes on with closed, rounded toes. Interesting. Shikamaru and Sasuke fist-bumped— a greeting that they probably picked up from Naruto— and I squealed as I launched myself at Temari. I hadn't seen her in forever. She squeezed me back and I felt tiny compared to her. My nose just barely touched her shoulder. She was as tall as Shikamaru in her heels!

"Saku_ra_." She tsked and shook her finger. I blushed. Did I look like shit? I probably did; it's been a while since I went all-out to go out. She reached over and pulled the ornate clip out of my hair and shoved the one end of it into Sasuke's pocket. Poor Sasuke looked like he didn't know what to do in response; he definitely wasn't expecting Temari to be so nonchalant around him. Shikamaru just sent him a shrug: _deal with it_.

My hair had styled itself in the twist it had been in and fell just past my shoulders in long, billowy waves. Okay. That was an _improvement_. In the humidity of the night, my bangs, still to the side, had waved as well. I actually _felt _sexier thanks to the adjustment. Yeah, Termai was right, tonight was definitely a "hair down" night.

"Tell me you sealed your heels away somewhere. They won't let you in like _that_." She spoke, pointing at my feet.

"The heels are in here, no worries." I held up my clutch, smiling and she smirked.

"You're such a shinobi." She commented with a shake of her head.

"I know." I grinned. I wasn't as girly as the other kunoichi I knew, but I was proud of my recently refined strength and grace on the battlefield.

"Yo Sakura." Shikamaru greeted with a yawn. He looked _so_ over this. It was funny.

"What Shika? Is it your bedtime already?" I replied, snidely, but he knew it was just a well-placed joke.

"No, but I have a feeling 4 am will be." He did _not _sound ecstatic. Temari socked him across the shoulder in response to his attitude.

"I've never been to a club in fire country. You lost the bet now deal with it." She reminded him in a harsh, but not explicitly _angry_ tone.

"What was the bet?" I was surprised to hear Sasuke speak. I wasn't used to him being social, and, well… _casual._ His voice was attractive and smooth. Mmm. Damn Jashin to hell for giving me irresistibly sexy teammates…

Anyway, Temari and Shikamaru blushed at the question. Temari stepped up to come up with some reasonable excuse but they had already _both_ messed up and Sasuke and I already knew it was a bet that was only meant for their ears and eyes behind closed doors.

"Well, uh…" Temari didn't know how to respond. I took her hesitation as my moment to give her a shit-eating grin, and then embarrass her more.

"Oh I see. So I guess kurenai-sensei's Asuma-kun is going to have a cousin soon?" I leered with the upper hand, and Temari shoved me a little as she hissed my name out. Thank kami-sama I had flats on. I would've keeled over if I were wearing my heels and she shoved me like that. Shikamaru just smirked at us both.

"Let's go. With any hope you two will get tired early and give me and Sasuke a lucky break." Shikamaru interjected. I gave him an owl-eyed look. Temari and I then looked at each other and smirked.

"Oh, you just sealed your fate, Shikamaru." I deadpanned. Sasuke huffed and sent the Nara a small glare.

"Yeah, 4 am _is _going to be your bedtime tonight." Temari grinned abusively. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and just started walking. Temari smiled, squeezed my hand and went to go hold her boyfriend's hand. Awkwardly, Sasuke waited for me to place myself in between him and Temari and together we began the walk to the club.

The next forty-five minutes were spent catching up. I hadn't had a chance to talk to either Shikamaru or Temari in ages.

"How's Gaara been?" That was the first question out of my mouth. I hadn't seen the almighty Kazekage-sama in years! "And Kankurou? Oh! And how about Baki-san?"

Temari laughed heartily.

"Jeez, Uchiha, did you booze her up before you brought her here?" She joked to Sasuke. Said Uchiha's head shot up and he looked surprised that he was even being addressed. He smirked in response to her joke. Had he and Temari gotten over their issues at some point in these last four years? Maybe Temari forgave him for fighting her brother at the summit but just hasn't told him yet…

"It would've been entertaining if I did." He responded. "But we have a drinking contest to fairly participate in, so no." He replied coolly.

"Oh man, Sakura's going to be carrying you home tonight." Shikamaru interjected as if he felt bad for the Uchiha. Which, he was right, I probably _would_ end up carrying Sasuke home. Hah. That would be a funny sight: the night the great Uchiha Sasuke got carried home by a pink-haired _woman_ because he couldn't hold his liquor. I grinned evilly at the dirt road beneath my feet as we walked. Should I make that my goal for tonight…?

"Poison immunities." Sasuke simply responded in a tactical tone.

"Meh. My money's still on Sakura carrying you home." Shikamaru shrugged. He knew that between me and Tsunade-sama there was no one that could really keep up when we started going.

"Sorry Uchiha, I'd be on your side if I hadn't drank against Sakura herself a year ago. Never again." Temari explained with a nostalgic shake of her head, as if reaffirming to herself that it was a terrible idea. Surprisingly, I still remembered that night. I wasn't completely blasted when we went home. I had helped Shikamaru carry Temari to her temporary residence in Konoha at the time. It was a funny sight, really. Two drunk shinobi carrying a drunk shinobi home. Hah. Good times… Which brings me back to wondering how Gaara, Kankurou and Baki-san were doing.

"You _never_ answered my questions!" I howled, dejected that they all acted _so _cool and ignored my need for updates. I was Sakura. I needed to know how my patients were doing. And yes, for the record, I had treated all five Kage personally after the war. Temari had come to me for some help with a few sprains and cuts as well.

"Oh right; Gaara. He's all right, I guess." She shrugged her deceptively slender shoulders.

"You guess?" I queried in response, now worried.

"Well, an announcement is going to be sent here soon, so I guess I can tell you…" I waited with baited breath. Was Gaara hurt? Impeached?

"He's going to have to marry soon." Oh shit. I wasn't expecting that. "It's almost time for him to take a wife. He's having difficulties acquiring one." Temari explained. I was shocked. _Gaara_(?) having trouble finding a girl to marry him? That was unimaginable, with his heart of gold. What woman wouldn't want to date and marry the Kazekage?

"_What?_" I spoke with zero filters because I was comfortable around Temari. She was a friend of mine and we'd worked together many times in the past. "How is that even _possible_? He's so sweet!" I replied. Almost offended _for_ Gaara myself.

"Oh, well then, problem solved. Go marry him, Sakura." Temari replied flippantly with a wave of her hand.

"Wait, hold on, I don't even know him _that _well, Temari!" I quickly defended, cheeks reddened only because I could never see myself as Mrs. Kazegake. Or Sabaku no Sakura. No way.

"Okay, and there's the problem. It's not so much that girls aren't lining up to be with him, he just… doesn't have anyone he can trust like that that's female. He knows most of them just want the title and respect of being knows as the Kazekage-sama's wife." Temari shrugged as she explained.

"Okay, so he wants to marry for love." Complicated. Poor Gaara. I felt bad for him.

"Or for something that can _turn into_ love one day, yeah." Temari corrected. "Right now it's a trust, truth and transparency thing."

I thought on that for a second.

"Okay, well here's what you do…" And I wasn't serious and they knew it. "Just pick a really hot girl, send him into the wilderness and see what happens. Sometimes survival brings out teamwork. Teamwork brings closeness which can bloom into love." I shrugged.

"Hah, what kind of academy-level romance novels have you been reading?" Temari asked, laughing.

"Well I don't know, it's a proven fact that things like that happen when you have to survive! He'd at least figure out what he wants in a woman." I shrugged because that advice, though shitty _did _have some merit to it.

"He'll figure _something_ out. I imagine he might break the traditional "kage" rules and actually travel abroad for a short time if nothing changes in the next month." Temari commented on a serious note.

"Wow, he was really contemplating that? Wouldn't that cause a problem for the village elders?" I asked. It was unheard of for a kage to leave their respective village.

"Yeah, a big one. But it would cause so many heart attacks throughout the council that it might actually _fix_ more problems than it would create!" Temari laughed again, and I realized that the Sunagakure council was probably still large, elderly, and stubborn. I laughed at her dark humor and turned my attention to Shikamaru.

"So when were you going to tell me about Kakashi and Kurenai? Never?" I sniped, craning my head forward so I could pin him with a glare. It wasn't fair that I had to go out and do the investigative work myself.

"Hey, not my business to spread." Shikamaru defended with his hands up in surrender.

"How have your missions been, Sakura?" Temari asked before I could grill Shikamaru any further. Heh. Interesting; they worked together rather well to cover each other's asses. That's cute.

"Eh. Some easier than others. As usual." I commented vaguely because I really did _not_ want to talk about everyone I had killed or lost at a hospital the last four years. Temari nodded and I decided to elaborate to not sound rude. "The last year I've been working on improving medicine and medics for hospitals all over the five countries and everywhere in between. There's a lot to do, especially since people are still recovering after the war."

"Wow, I can imagine. Do you actually train iryo-nin?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"Yes. Only the medic part of it, though. Never the combat part. That stays secret, of course." I explained. "I've been thinking about opening up my own medical school in Konoha. It would be nice to have a well-trained medic to send to all of the hospitals in the smaller towns and countries in between the nations to make things are running smoothly after I put them together. It takes a lot to bounce around back and forth and kami-sama all the _letters_…" I hated mail. I usually had Shizune respond to my letters for me.

"Ah, speaking of which, Gaara may ask you to help out with the hospital. We have very few iryo nin, so you might get a request to come to Suna for a while soon." Temari hinted.

"Oh, that would be great! I was planning on asking Tsunade-sama to send me there, anyway. After the incident with Kankurou…" I trailed off, but Temari understood. I had realized back then how poor Suna's medical system was. Obviously Garra was making changes to _all _of Suna's inner workings if he was going to need me to fix up his hospital soon. "In any case, it's good to know that Gaara's been making positive changes to Suna since the last time I've been there." The redhead had really grown into an incredible leader. I still shivered when I remembered the beautiful speech he gave at the start of the war. Everyone really rallied together in response. It took one hell of a speech and a public speaker to unify 80,000 shinobi and get them all to focus on the same goal despite their bad blood from the past. I smiled at the memory.

"Man tomorrow's going to be so troublesome. I have a clan meeting." Shikamaru whined and I giggled because he sounded like an old man who needed to retire already.

"If you're lucky I'll manage to get you so drunk you'll just be wasted through the whole thing and won't really have to focus on it." Temari commented flippantly, grinning mischievously.

"Yeah right, ask Sasuke, that's not how things work in clan meetings." Shikamaru drawled back. Both Temari and I turned our heads towards Sasuke. He seemed to be wearing a small, nostalgic smile as he looked at the houses just ahead of us. We were entering residential territory. How long have we been walking? I didn't notice the time fly.

"They'll notice if you're still drunk and then you'll be under scrutiny forever. It doesn't help that you're young _and_ dating internationally. I imagine meeting with your elders is usually uncomfortable." Sasuke commented.

"Well, they're not _that_ strict. They like having alliances as a result of courtship and marriage and whatnot. They just give me a lot of crap for being the youngest clan head to ever take position since the village was formed." He shrugged.

"Mn. My clan had a lot less room for movement. Count yourself lucky." Sasuke responded, a slightly dark edge to his tone. How had it been for his elder brother, being the heir to the Uchiha clan head? Jeez… must've been tough… Poor Itachi-san. I would have to go visit him and pray for him tomorrow…

"Is that because of the sharingan?" Temari asked. "Not to be rude or anything…" She added cautiously. Sasuke shook his head. I felt tense, because I imagined it would be hard for him to talk about his family and how his people were, but he seemed all right, like he was free of those kinds of chains… Had he slowly been getting over everything these last four years? I studied his relaxed body as he moved fluidly, _beautifully_ through the brightly-lit street. Yeah… I hadn't realized it before but it looked like there was a weight off of his chest... Maybe he had finally changed his dismal perspective on life and his purpose in it. I caught myself just as I was becoming a little _too _invested in his thoughts and his feelings for comfort, so I just focused on his response.

"Yes. The Hyuuga are similar from what I remember. Marrying outside of the clan is close to impossible." I frowned about that. What about Naruto and Hinata then?

"What if you're next in line to become Hokage and just happen to come from one of the best and most loved kages known to Konoha history?" I heavily hinted. Sasuke looked down at me, but just shook his head.

"I don't know how they're going to handle that. I keep telling Naruto to just buy her a ring, or a betrothal necklace, or whatever they use to propose. He doesn't listen." Wow. _Sasuke_ telling _Naruto_ to marry? Now I'd seen it all. I wonder why Naruto was being so stubborn… was it because—

"Oh whatever, you know Naruto always finds a way." Shikamaru interrupted my thoughts and I had to agree with him and smile at the fact that he waved his hand leisurely and just _trusted_ Naruto. When it came to Naruto, Shikamaru didn't have to use his head much. He'd be a great councilman for my best friend in the future.

We started to traverse into a more densely populated area of the Festival Town, which was more like a festival _city_ now that they looked like they were _actually _having a _festival_. _Two_ festivals, actually. People dressed in all kinds of kimonos, waving around multi-colored fans and wearing all sorts of masks passed us by on one warmly-lit street. Fireworks had also just gone off at that point as well. On the other side of the street, people were wearing flowers of all different kinds. Everyone was wearing something with either a real or a printed flower on it. We all took in the sights and the smells of the food stands and eventually came upon Hofuku. We took our tickets out as the club came into sight.

"Guys, hang on." I stopped everyone. Temari turned around and looked at me oddly. Shikamaru mirrored her expression, but Sasuke rolled his eyes as he saw me open my clutch. He moved next to me as if it were his _job_ and I grinned. Wonderful. A shoulder to _literally_ lean on. I unsealed my heels and put them on, using Sasuke as support while Temari laughed her ass off and Shikamaru made some comment about how the great and terrifying avenger, Uchiha Sasuke, was reduced to being a woman's personal man-servant. I felt more than I saw the glare Sasuke shot in his direction as I resealed my flats into the paper and placed it back into the clutch.

"Okay. All clear." Whoops. Anbu talk. Shikamaru sent me a weary look. We were supposed to be _civilians_. Common military terminology shouldn't be thrown around casually lest someone catch onto it. I blushed. "Sorry, let's go." I corrected and we went up to the bouncer with our VIP tickets. The VIP tickets allowed us to avoid the ridiculously long line and we were pushed in after having our ID's checked and the "retribution" kanji stamped onto the backs of our hands in glow-in-the-dark ink.

**SUGGESTION: If you want to experience this chapter with music in the back ground look up these songs and play them! If not just skip this bolded part and continue reading! **

**Epic by Sandro Silva **

**Miraj by Sandro Silva**

**Payback by Sandro Silva**

**Let Go Tonight by Sandro Silva **

**Beam Me Up BY Cazzette**

**Ladi Dadi By Steve Aoki**

**Thunder by W&amp;W **

**Animals by Martin Garrix **

**Sound of Violence by Dennis De Laat**

**Three Triangles by Hardwell **

**Stampede by Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike, and Borgeous **

**There and Back by Wolfgang Gartner **

**Pressure (Alesso Remix) by Alex Kenji, Starkillers and Nadia Ali**

Inside, the music was _booming_. It was a hard, electric genre that was playing that night; just my style. I bobbed my head to the beat of the bass and wove my way through the massive crowd, trying to find the bar towards the far back of the large lounge. I was passing through a crowd dressed in white dancing under many black lights. Every bright thing they wore glowed, as did my glow-in-the-dark ink stamp on my hand.

There were people literally _everywhere_ and I was surprised to feel a warm, masculine and calloused hand wrap around mine, tightly. I stopped. Was I going to have to hurt someone _already_? I wanted my liquor first before I got stupid with a guy. Sake always came _first_. Didn't stupid guys know that? I whipped my head around, not caring that I smacked some guy in passing in the face with my hair. Thakfully I heard the guy laugh as he pushed my hair away. He didn't cause a problem. To my surprise the person holding my hand was Sasuke. On instinct I blushed, but I repressed that part of me quickly. He was giving me a stern look, his black eyes looking even _darker_ and _sexier_ in the surrounding environment, and I _think_ I knew what he meant. Either he was trying to say, _Don't leave me to the mercy of these people _or he was saying, _You better not get lost_.

Either way I felt like I had the upper hand here. Tch. Rookie. I smirked at him, turned around, took the lead and _pulled _him through the thrashing and dancing bodies, amazed at how much heat we were surrounded by, despite the obvious AC that was blasting through the vents above the crowd. It was dark in the club aside from a few soft, warm lights illuminating the walls and the wallflowers and kissing couples that clung to them, and lots of colored, laser-lights flitting about the crowd, giving the dance floor and DJ stand a hypnotic appearance.

I swayed my hips as a beat that I particularly liked flooded my ears, because _fuck it_ I just had a really good feelingthat tonight would be _epic_. Finally, I found the glowing, square-shaped bar. It was all glass, illuminated in a blue light to make it look futuristic or ethereal or whatever. There was just a bit of space in between the bar stools and the many people dancing and flailing— some drunkenly— to the entrancing song.

I popped through the crowd and smiled that no one had spilled their drink on either me, or Sasuke who popped out just behind me. We let go of each other and sat on the round, spinning stools in front of the bar. The bartender smiled at me. He knew damn well who I was and made it a point to saunter over to me. This was going to be fun… I was surprised to see him there, actually. Last time we met he was a bartender in kirigakure.

The man's name was Akio and he had _beautiful, wild_ dark hair and piercing, blue eyes that rivaled Naruto's in a sexy, mysterious kind of way. He was dressed in a black button-up and a pair of black slacks. I leaned over in my chair and stuck out my arms as he practically climbed up on the bottom bar on his side to lean over and hug me. He kissed my neck and I thought I felt a little bit of killing intent from Sasuke, but I ignored it. If he was as protective as Naruto, he'd have to learn to get over it somehow. I was a big girl. Besides, me and Akio had had amazing sex already. It was too late to fight for a modesty that wasn't there anymore, at least between myself and Akio.

"Saki!" He called over the music once we pulled away. "I haven't seen you in forever!" He grinned in that sexy way I forgot he could grin in.

"Followed me to Fire Country like you promised?!" I laughed and he smiled in response, shaking his head. "Nah, I'm not stupid; I _know_ you don't do long-term! Is this your asshole ex-teammate?" He pointed to Sasuke and Sasuke glared at him, _murderously_. For a civilian with minimal shinobi training, Akio had fucking _guts_. At least, to say something like that to Sasuke afte knowing he'd been one of the most dangerous men this world has ever seen.

"Yeah but he's not an asshole anymore, I promise! Don't poison his drinks, ne?!" I laughed hard. "We're just here to drink and have fun!" I warned and just then Temari and Shikamaru fell through the dancing crowd out of breath. Apparently, they had already danced a little. Go Temari!

"Your friends?" Akio pointed as Temari sat next to Sasuke on his right. Shikamaru sat next to her, on her right.

"Yeah, treat 'em good for me, onegaiishimasu!" I spoke.

He shot me a smirk. "I'll still treat you the best, Saki, you know that!"

I laughed because Akio had lost _none_ of the charm he had the last time we met.

"Really, what made you come all the way to Fire?" I asked him over the booming music. The song changed. It was another hard, electric song but this one had a sexier lilt to it; it was the kind of song a girl could just dance to in a sexy way. Kami-sama, this DJ was making my night tonight.

"Too fucking rainy in Kiri! I got depressed after you left!" He laughed at himself and I shook my head. Poor Akio… I really broke his heart… I still felt bad about to this day, two years later.

"All right, princess, what'll it be tonight? You wanna start off hard or soft?" He changed the subject, thankfully. I was starting to _feel_ Sasuke's sour attitude at he watched us catch up.

"Hard! Get the best and newest for me and Sasuke!" I wanted a modern drink. I wanted to try something new tonight.

"What about your friends?" Akio jerked a thumb at Shikamaru and Temari, who stuck her tongue out at me before she spoke.

"Yeah what about us? You didn't even introduce, Sakura!" She chastised. I felt stupid and blushed.

"Oh! Right! Guys, this is Dekuru Akio! I met him while he was bartending in Kiri. Akio, this is Temari and Shikamaru. They're good friends of mine!"

"All right, Temari and Shikamaru; awesome! What'll it be for you guys?" Akio smiled personably, and I had to admire him for having fun with his job. I had always envied him for that. We were an odd couple when we were together. He was the free one, moving from place to place whenever he felt like it. He got to meet and make friends with so many people on a regular basis. He was social and charismatic, whereas I was forced into death, secrecy and duty, though I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else. I was a damned good doctor and a damned good assassin. That was just what I did. In the end, we were too different. He had asked me to just leave what I was doing if I was unhappy, not understanding that being a shinobi is not something you can just leave after coming such a long way. Plus, I was stronger than him. In the end, I felt like I would have to protect him in case of emergency and some repressed feminine part of me wanted someone strong enough to protect _me_ if I ever needed to be protected. That would mean a civilian bartender, though a good bedmate, wasn't exactly sexually enticing after a couple of months.

"Same as them!" Temari cheerfully responded, breaking my train of thought. "Even if my sour-faced boyfriend says he'll stick to water." She added in teasingly. Shikamaru shot her a dejected look.

"You're only young once, man, your girl has a point!" Akio laughed. "Gimme just a few minutes!"

He disappeared to the other side of the square-shaped bar to get a few orders from some loud girls who wanted more to drink. I looked over at Sasuke. He was tense and he looked ready to kill. I put my hand on his leg and he twitched, just slightly. He looked angry at me, so I grabbed him by his collar and pulled him close so I could speak into his ear. Nope, you just couldn't be gentle and reassuring with Sasuke, that only pissed him off more.

"We get free drinks. Stop complaining and just have fun." I deadpanned into the shell of his ear, because Suchiru would want _everyone _to have fun and I'd be damned if I let Sasuke ruin tonight for me.

"He's a fucking pervert, Sakura." He defended himself as I let go of his shirt.

I laughed. "And so am I." I shrugged and pulled away from him and then laughed more when I saw the horrified expression on Sasuke's face. Hah! That caught him off guard. I pointed at him and laughed harder because I had never seen Sasuke so red-faced and astounded in my _entire _life. Shikamaru and Temari were speaking amongst themselves so they hadn't known why I was laughing so hard when they looked up in response to my voice. They went back to talking and Sasuke shook his head, eventually recovering from my absurd and overly-open comment. Whatever, he'd realize it eventually anyway.

"You ready to drink, Mr. I-think-I'm-better-than-Sakura-at-drinking?!" I shouted over to him. He used some chakra to scoot his chair over towards me so he could hear me better, or speak to me without shouting at the top of his lungs, whichever. I smiled at his warmth. Who would have known Sasuke could be such a warm person? You would think after being shrouded with so much darkness throughout his life he'd feel cold, like a corpse.

"I'm ready to drink you under the table, yes." He replied in his sexy baritone. I laughed at his confidence. It was endearing.

"Ah, then you'll have to follow me under the table and drink some more with me, Sasuke." I flirted back, because I was in a club, in a good mood and the music was _awesome_;how could I _not_ be flirtatious, even with Sasuke? It didn't mean anything anyway. I flirted with Naruto a little in these kinds of settings too. Shit, I'd even take a chance at flirting with Neji if he were allowed to go to something like this.

Neji… poor Neji… Fuck… Where was that booze Akio promised me?

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Sasuke, a concerned expression on his face. I offered him a fake smile and a shake of my head as I heard the clinking of two rather _tall_-sounding glasses on the glowing glass bar in front of us. It was some sort of bubbly bright _green_ drink that I had never seen before. He placed two smaller glasses of the same drink in front of Temari and Shikamaru. He had decorated the wide rim of Temari's drink with mandarin and peach slices and mine with strawberries, raspberries and apple slices. I blushed as Akio winked. Apparently, he still remembered my first time experimenting with food and sex. I shook my head, lifted my drink, thanked him as he went over to the other side of the bar and turned to an annoyed Sasuke. I shrugged and lifted the heavy drink to him.

He lifted his. I gently clinked my glass against his and smiled.

"To all of the promotions and jokes I missed between you and Naruto collectively." I offered

He nodded and I saw his mind coming up with something to drink to, so I waited for him, our glasses still touching. He smirked.

"To the craziest night I will probably ever experience in my entire life." I laughed at his toast and we both took a very large gulp of the drink. I carefully tried to balance the fruit on top of it while I drank. Damn, this song was amazing. I wanted to dance and move around to it. I eyed Sasuke over my drink. He eyed me over his. …Maybe if I ask him he'll dance with me… _if_ he's drunk enough. I had never seen Sasuke drunk. I don't even know what he's like when he's drunk. I hope he gets stupid and happy like I do. If he doesn't, I'll just have to _make _him be stupid and happy with me. I grinned as I finished sipping and placed my glass down on the hard surface of the bar. Sasuke placed his down after mine.

"You lasted pretty long on that one." I commented, because I had never seen him down so much alcohol at once. Both of our glasses were half full. He was actually focusing on out-drinking me. Yeah, tonight was _definitely _going to be fun.

"I took your advice." He responded as if him downing half a _tall_ glass of whatever Akio made for us was no big deal. It really was, because only I could down that much in one sitting. Tsunade-sama was the only other living person I'd seen keep up with me like that.

"What?" What advice was he talking about? What did my advice have to do with him not throwing up everything he just drank so quickly?

"I ate bland food for a while to see if you were right about the acidity thing you mentioned." He clarified and I noticed his dark eyes glaze just slightly. Uh-huh… Sasuke was totally getting buzzed. That drink was _strong_.

"Oh, so was I?" I asked coyly. Sneaky Sasuke… testing out my theories in secret… He shrugged, but the corner of his mouth quirked up just a bit and I figured he thought that it did; he just didn't want to tell me because kami-sama forbid he admitted he was wrong. Sasuke will always be Sasuke.

"Yeah, yeah, you can admit I was right any moment, Sasuke." I pressed confidently, because the human body and its workings were _my_ forte, not his.

"I think you were, but my stomach is still going to hurt later anyway." He shrugged and daringly took another sip of his drink, though this one was calm and not as rushed as our initial sip. I dipped an apple slice into the drink and let it soak up the alcohol as Sasuke watched me with a curious gaze. I handed him the apple slice instead of eating it myself. He looked at it and some emotion I couldn't decipher crossed his face. He looked serious as he took it from me and bit into it. I ignored the expressions he was making and picked up another apple slice, soaking it while I watched him eat.

"I can just always heal you, you know. It doesn't have to be _that_ bad tomorrow morning." I shrugged and he nodded as he finished off the apple slice.

"You might have to." Past his head I saw Shikamaru and Temari touching each other's legs, holding hands and whispering to each other. They were both red in the face and a few shot glasses stood next to their large green glasses. Oh boy… they were bold in public, all right. Sasuke spun his bar stool, following my gaze just enough so that he caught what was going on with the corner of his eye. He turned and smirked back at me.

"Those 'cousins' you were talking about…" He simply spoke, referring to my comment earlier tonight and I laughed at his sense of humor.

"Yeah… cousins. Definitely. Soon, it looks like." I cryptically responded.

"Marriage first though." Sasuke held up his finger. So traditional. I wasn't expecting that from him. I figured he'd be a bit more progressive after being out and about for so many years. But it seemed right, regardless. Maybe he wanted to hold onto the values he remembered his parents having. If anything it was a sweet homage to them. I smiled softly at him. He had turned out just fine after the war. Thank kami-sama for Kakashi-sensei and Naruto. I kept the good mood going and laughed at the kissing couple next to us.

"Jeez I should let Ino start planning their wedding." I commented as I chewed on another apple slice. The added alcohol made it taste sooo good. Sasuke snorted at that one. I think we both laughed at the image of Ino in bossy-pig-mode controlling every little detail of someone else's wedding.

"You think she'd crack the whip at Shikamaru?" I asked. Sasuke shrugged.

"If not Ino, then that one definitely would." And Sasuke raised his glass, pointing at Temari discreetly with his elbow and took a drink. I shook my head. Who the hell knew? I was just happy that Shikamaru had found someone to love that loved him and his laziness back just as equally. Love was beautiful. Too bad I was too mentally damaged to want anything to do with it. Sasuke and I shared the rest of my fruit in silence and then got back to drinking.

"We should play a game." I suggested. Sasuke downed the rest of his glass and placed the drink back atop of the bar jut as another song started. I started to dance in my chair as he replied.

"What kind of game?" He asked, curiously.

"I don't know; a drinking game, so I don't have to go and dance just yet." I laughed and twisted my hips around in the seat, arms up in the air and hair whipping about for just a split second as the beat dropped and got going.

"I don't know any drinking games." Sasuke revealed. I deflated and then I took his hand in both of mine, holding a serious expression on my face as Akio cleared his glass from the bar in a hurry and moved along. After a few minutes of looking at my serious face, he began to look worried; the alcohol wasn't helping him realize that I was totally being false… fufufufuuu… good.

"Sasuke… because of that comment, I'm afraid the diagnosis is that you're extremely boring." He looked minutely offended but then decided to play along in good humor.

"Oh, is it terminal?" He asked, feigning a worried look.

"I'm afraid there's only one cure…" I deadpanned jokingly and I have to say my façade cracked a little here. I snickered. Sasuke smirked, but only a little. Kami-sama why does he have to be so good-looking? Also, why did you make his personality improve? I was actually enjoying my time with him, though I don't know if that's because I felt overly optimistic tonight or not.

"Oh? What's that?" He held his act better than I held mine. He looked genuinely curious. I squeezed his hand, feigning an emotional moment between doctor and patient. I shook my head as if my next sentence was hard for me to say.

"I'm afraid you'll have to play 'Drink and Tell' with me." DUN DUN DUNNNN!

"Is it difficult?" He asked, squeezing back, feigning the same emotion. And I have no idea who we were putting on a show for, at this point. But it was fucking funny to me so whatever. I nodded solemnly.

"Yes, Uchiha-san…" I put on my best impression of my doctor voice. "For those who have had a stick up their ass their entire life such as yourself I'm afraid it's a daunting task." He threw my hand at my lap, expressively in response to my jibe and I laughed.

"Fine. Let's play." He smirked, rising to the challenge I just posed for him.

"Good." I grinned.

"Rules?" He questioned. I downed my drink and raised my hand. Akio noticed and leapt over, crossing from the opposite side of the bar in four long, fast strides. He cleared my glass quickly and made eye contact with me.

"What's next?" He asked me, but Sasuke stepped up and answered. Surprise, _surprise_.

"Something effective." My Uchiha teammate spoke authoritatively and I laughed at the dark brow Akio rose in response. Sasuke gave him a _What, did I stutter?_ kind of look and I couldn't help but laugh at the exchange of machismo. Guys were so weird.

"Actually, yeah. Something _really _effective, please. Mix it well, ne?" I acted as cute as possible and Akio's blue eyes softened. He had been in love with me; he couldn't refuse when I asked like _that_. My favorite bartender nodded and disappeared for more glasses, ordering a bar-back that showed up momentarily to get more of whatever kind of liquor he needed. I bounced and moved in time to the bass of the song that was playing. I wanted to dance _so_ bad.

"Okay." I stopped myself from dancing. "The rules are simpl—

"Hey." I glared at a drunk man who had all of a sudden slid in front of me, completely obscuring my hot teammate from my view. He was maybe Kakashi's age, with sand-colored hair and brown eyes. He _reeked _of liquor, _and_ cigarette smoke. Ew. He was smiling at me. His teeth were yellow. Grosssssss…..

"…Hi…" I responded slowly. And I blinked. Because what the fuck was he thinking, really?

"I couldn't help but notice that you… wan~na dance." He slurred. Oh shit. He was _actually _hitting on me. _While _piss drunk. Wow. Suddenly, he twitched minutely and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He started to fall over towards me. Oh no… His face would land _right_ into my boobs if he continued falling that way. I tensed to get up, but thankfully, Sasuke "casually" kicked him into the crowd, while putting one of his ankles onto his knee. Beautiful execution. I started to laugh because he looked _really _nonchalant as the people in the crowd yelled in offense and screamed obscenities as the guy fell into them. I laughed as I watched a few bouncers come by, pick him up and drag him away.

"Did you knock him out?" I asked, because that didn't look like he passed out from drinking too much. That looked like Sasuke had hit a vital pressure point. Sasuke shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Maybe."

I shook my head in disbelief. Sasuke had lost none of his "cool" factor over the years. That was definitely the coolest thing I've seen a guy do for me so far. It was even cooler because Sasuke knew he'd get escorted out if it looked like he had injured someone and had managed to defend me and completely evade such a scenario. Awesome. Just awesome.

"Rules, Sakura?" He questioned, getting back on topic.

I opened my mouth to speak and took a breath, but again, I was interrupted, because Akio dropped by with two more tall glasses for us. Mine matched the _exact _shade of my hairand Sasuke's was clear, but bubbly with mint leaves in it. I shot Akio a smile across the bar. This was beautiful artwork. It's too bad that we would drink it all away.

"Another toast before we start?" I asked. Sasuke nodded. I thought hard about this one, and finally, raised my glass.

"To every bad guy team seven kicks to the curb from now on, because even the wicked deserve _something_." It was lame, but true. I had no hard feelings for the people I had to fight. They were bad but there were things that made them that way. I touched my glass to Sasuke's. We held our glasses that way as he thought on something to say as well.

"To every life team seven saves from now on." He gave me a genuine smile and I grinned at him. That's right… I was so wrapped up in him I forgot that we were going to train together soon. I nodded and we tipped back our glasses and drank. Sasuke had put his down, but I continued drinking as he watched in fascination. I smiled at him as I drank, savoring the sweetness of the beverage. I placed my glass down and exhaled.

"How did yours taste?" I asked, nodding towards his drink, even though he knew what I was talking about. Things like unnecessary actions didn't matter when you were buzzed. Equally, Sasuke slid his eyes to briefly look at his drink before he looked back at me. Completely unnecessary, but he did it anyway. Yep. We were well on our way to testing our tolerance, but we seemed evenly matched.

"Minty. But strong. The guy knows what I like." He commented and I smiled because I now knew what I would ask him during our game of "drink and tell".

"Okay. Now, the rules, Uchiha-san." I playfully tasted his surname on my tongue. He smirked and I noticed his eyes focusing on everything about me at once. They flew from my hair, to my face to my arm, to maybe my legs, or the dance floor that had more people than we initially came in, now stomping all over it. I can't tell. Whatever, I continued. "It's really simple. You can't screw it up." I started. "It's a question game. I drink and I start off with a fact about myself that you don't know. Afterwards, I get to ask you a question that you have to answer 100% honestly. So, you drink, answer and ask me a question and then I drink and answer. Simple. If I trick you by asking a question I know the answer to and you lie to me, you have to down a drink of my choice in one sitting. Vice versa if I lie about anything too." I explained as simply and effectively as I could.

"All right." He shrugged. "Start."

I didn't have to think hard on what to tell Sasuke. He knew very little about me.

"My first jounin mission was in the abandoned Sound Country." I revealed and then drank. Now I smirked… the million dollar question… that we've _all_ been waiting to know the answer to since childhood. Ready? "Okay, do you prefer long hair on women or short?" Sasuke smirked and gave a small, amused laugh in response. He picked up his drink and sipped, only slightly, because maybe, he wanted this game to last a while.

"I prefer whatever suits the woman's face. If she looks cuter with short hair, then I like it. If she looks better with long hair, then so be it. I don't have a specific standard."

Wow. Eloquent response. I'd have to tell Ino that one later. Hats off to Sasuke for being detailed, too. No holding back tonight, huh? I smirked. His turn. He seemed to think carefully as he stared at his drink, then his glazed eyes slid to me.

"What kind of hair do you like on a man? Your personal preference." He shot. I smirked and took a sip of my sweet, but acidic drink. Asshole. Fishing for complements.

"I like it short. Color?" I'd have to be careful here… wouldn't want to complement him _too_ much… "I don't like anything weird. I could never be attracted to a guy with blue or green hair. Ew." I twisted my face and Sasuke laughed, fully amused. "If it's long it has to be dark, otherwise I think I'm trying to flirt with Ino." And at that, he snorted. My turn. I asked the next question that just popped into my mind.

"What's your favorite color?" I asked, because I genuinely had never thought to inquire when we were teammates.

"Blue. But some days I like red better." He shrugged and drank.

"Who was your first kiss?" He smirked as he asked. I blushed. Well, someone was getting personal… two could play at that game.

"A shinobi named Ikuto from Suna." I replied and drank. Sasuke nodded and just drank because he felt like it. I decided I'd sucker-punch him with a _really _personal question later when he was _really _drunk and loose-lipped for the one he just asked me. "What's the name of your favorite mixed drink?" I asked.

"Blue Moon of the Lake from Kirigakure." He shot back with ease and sipped.

"Who did you fight during your anbu exam?" He asked after a moment. Oh that was a shocking one. I smiled.

"A Hyuuga named Tanno." I grinned sourly at the memory. They made me fight him because Tsunade-sama knew of my ptsd about not being able to save Neji. I had to kill my emotions then because he was a _serious_ fighter and he _seriously _reminded me of Neji. Tanno was dangerous and he spared me no mercy. Looking back, it was the most _exhilarating _one on one fight I'd been in, not counting the one against Sasori because Chiyo-baa was there with me. I drank deeply of my drink, just for Neji, because I'd never forget what I couldn't do for him.

"Why do you get depressed sometimes?" My head snapped up. I hadn't realized I was looking down, that I had turned my chair away from Sasuke. _Fuck_. His eyes were on me like one of the hawks he usually summoned. I was slipping up faster than I thought. What the _fuck_ did Akio put in these things!? I quickly spun back to face Sasuke and smirked.

"You broke the one rule I thought you knew was a given!" I exclaimed and wagged my finger in front of his face. He glowered at me, following my finger a few times before he glared. He did _not_ like me avoiding his question; that's for sure, but maybe he wanted to stay in a good mood so he ignore that for now, thankfully.

"Now what?" He asked.

"I won't make you down an entire glass because it wasn't openly stated that you can't do that, but I won't answer the question either." Actually, I couldn't answer it if I wanted to because I already forgot what it was. Something about being sad or something? I was really good at distracting my own mind when I was drinking. Ino had always found that amusing.

"Fair enough. It's your turn." He replied. I nodded and smiled at him because his cheeks looked a little bit pinker in the dim light. I realized that Temari and Shikamaru were gone, their empty glasses left upside down on coasters at their seats. At least they'd be back soon.

-X-

WOOOOOO CLUBS! I was actually listening to EDM the _entire_ time I was writing this chapter. ALL FOURTEEN PAGES. But it helped get me in the mood. If you liked that playlist I put in for you here it is once more:

1\. Epic by Sandro Silva

2\. Miraj by Sandro Silva

3\. Payback by Sandro Silva

4\. Let Go Tonight by Sandro Silva

5\. Beam Me Up BY Cazzette

6\. Ladi Dadi By Steve Aoki

7\. Thunder by W&amp;W

8\. Animals by Martin Garrix

9\. Sound of Violence by Dennis De Laat

10\. Three Triangles by Hardwell

11\. Stampede by Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike, and Borgeous

12\. There and Back by Wolfgang Gartner

13\. Pressure (Alesso Remix) by Alex Kenji, Starkillers and Nadia Ali

Anyway, SO next chapter will be from Sasuke's point of view! WOOOO! Now we get to see a drunk and openly honest Sasuke! Yaaaaay! Those thoughts are going to be fun to write. Anyway, did you guys like Akio? Was he realistic enough? Did you like that he still has feelings for Sakura when she clearly said she didn't want to have anything serious, with anyone, like _ever_? So you like Sakura's "drink and tell" game? What are your thoughts? Was this chapter written better than the last? Are you guys even enjoying this fic? Tell me. Your reviews are my motivation don't be afraid to be detailed!

Diclaimer: I don't own anything. All music is owned by the music artists mentioned. They are EPIC. All Naruto characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto because he's _awesome_. And I don't make any money writing this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	10. Roommates

KISEKI

|10|

YAAAAAY tenth chapter! This fic started out as a writing experiment to poke around with a different writing style. It was an experiment to see if I could make something special out of a regular SasukeSakura and it boomed. Thank you for bearing with me so far, readers! I will probably go back and rewrite the first few chapters to fit the new format of the story but for now, just keep reading because I'm on a creativity high for this story and it's moving along swimmingly. Thank you all for your kind reviews! Please keep reviewing! I really like detailed opinions, even if it is constructive criticism. This is my first SasukeSakura so I'm _really _curious as to what you think, because I may think about writing them again in the future.

Also this weekend really sucked from an introverted perspective. I had just too much crap to do when all I wanted was to just write this and work out and write more. Ugh. Whatever I finally got back to it. Speaking of which…

God I feel so sorry for my other story. I hope all my _WEEDS_ fans will forgive me. I had to write something fun because _WEEDS_ is getting too serious and I'm procrastinating lol. No, not "lol". That's not really funny. I need to inspire myself to continue writing T_T. Maybe I should go ask someone if they want to go on an adventure. Blah.

-X-

I sipped on my drink as I watched Sakura eye me with a mischievous look on her pretty face. Whatever it was, the next question would be a good one. I resisted from smirking. It would definitely be something I wouldn't normally respond to. In other news, I could no longer taste the sting of alcohol in my drink. I hope I'm not further along than she is…

"What do you jack off to." She deadpanned in a serious tone and I nearly choked on my drink. I started coughing because it went down the wrong pipe anyway and Sakura laughed as she clapped me hard on the back until I was done.

"What kind-" I coughed more. "– of question is that!?" I coughed twice before I felt the annoyance in my throat finally disappear. I realized that I had had a lot to drink at that point. I was starting to feel slow and heavy as I looked down at her and studied her lips. We only had a drink and a half but it was clear that Akio was _actually _"taking care" of us tonight. The drinks _really_ had a lot of alcohol in them; _no joke_. Sakura was smiling at me innocently, leaning on the bar with one elbow, her cheek propped up on her delicate fist. She was fucking good; I'll give her that. That one caught me off guard.

"Better now?" She asked with a cocked brow in a mock-sweet tone.

"What made you ask _that_?" I asked. Because really, of all things…

"What?" She blinked innocently, as if it _wasn't _weird to ask _that_ much of a personal question. "Kakashi-sensei likes hips, Naruto likes boobs. What gets you off?" She rephrased with a nonchalant wave of her hand, and I realized she wasn't bothering with personal space because longtime friends didn't usually bother with personal space, or concepts, for that matter. Some of my conversations with Naruto should never be mentioned ever again, let alone told to others, so I guess this counted as my first "never to be mentioned again" personal conversation with Sakura.

I was still staring at her in shock that she actually rephrased it like that when she smirked evilly, reached over and closed my mouth with her index finger, like I did to her in my kitchen. I batted her hand away, snapping out of my surprise, but of course, I was well on my way to being drunk so I missed, horribly. Fine. A question's a question. She'd get her answer. I felt my face get hot as I cleared my throat to speak.

"Legs and a good figure." I responded confidently and drank to get rid of the awkwardness I felt. Sakura laughed melodically. I focused on the booming music instead of her laughter. Well, _that_ was fucking embarrassing to admit. I smirked. I _did _have comeback for that, though. I was Uchiha Sasuke, of course. If you fuck with me, I fuck with you three times harder in return. It was just how my brain worked.

"When was the last time you got yourself off?" I asked smoothly. I was appalled at myself for speaking to a woman this way but Sakura was asking for it. Kaa-san would have to excuse me for making her roll in her grave. Honto gomen, Okaa-san. I apologized because she would want me to... after hitting me with something… Sakura was laughing in response.

"Oh, You wanna know, Sasu-_keee_?" She leered, and I narrowed my eyes at her. I shrugged.

"You wanted to get personal, Sa-ku-ra." I tipped my head from side to side, making fun of her name as I said it. She drank down the rest of her drink and practically slammed her glass on the bar.

"Last night." She commented, also confidently.

…

My first thought, you wonder?

….

…

….

In bed or in the shower? Hn. I smirked at myself and downed the rest of my drink. Would Sakura be the type to go at it in bed or discreetly in her shower? Did she have something to do it with? Interesting…

"I didn't ask you a question." She commented as she pointed at my empty drink.

"So?" I smirked and she laughed, eyes darting all over my face. The glowing, colored lights illuminated her skin and made her hair all different shades of pink as they hit the soft waves around her face.

"Did I change your mind? Do you like drinking now?" She asked with a grin and I couldn't say no because if I wasn't drinking with her tonight I wouldn't be having fun. Sakura was making tonight exciting without having to spar with me. That was a difficult task to accomplish. So I gave her credit where she deserved.

"It's fun with _you_." I stressed. "Kakashi is boring and Naruto's an idiot." I shrugged. They weren't exactly "not fun" to drink with, they were just _tedious_ in their own way. Kakashi sometimes got dark and gloomy when he drank and Naruto? Tch. I always had to clean up after Naruto. He made a mess out of some_thing_, some_where_ _every _time.

"Saki?" Bartender-guy showed, smiling at Sakura warmly. I forgot his name already, but what the _fuck_ was he looking at her like that for? Irritating. The guy was fucking irritating by just being _him_. What was with Sakura and dating irritating guys?

"Two Kirigakure Blue Moon's, onegai Aki! Tall as always!" She chirped back, smiling pleasantly. Well, that was nice of her to remember my favorite drink. Anyway, what was with the "Saki"? Why'd he call her that? In fact, how the hell do you get Saki from Sakura? There's no "_I" _in Sakura's _entire_ name; not even her surname. So what _gives_? Aki. She called him Aki. That's right; his name's Akio. Deru… Deku… Desu— fuck it. I can't remember. The guy agreed to make the drinks and _finally _moved away.

Shit. Everything is moving so fast around me. I'm past just a buzz now… downing that glass so fast was a terrible idea… I wonder how bad my liver must feel right now… I looked over and Sakura was dancing in her chair again. I couldn't help but watch as the curves of her body moved fluidly and beautifully to the music around her. Fuck; she looked _good_. Why was she suddenly so _appetizing _after four years? Her hair was bouncing around and I fucking liked it. I _really_ liked it. Sakura always had an abnormal color scheme, but I didn't realize how much I liked it until now. You know what else made her _that_ much hotter than the other women I've slept with?

Sakura is a _shinobi_. She is an _accomplished_ kunoichi. Meaning she had to somehow be _stealthy_ and _survive_ in this cutthroat world with _that_ hair color. Putting her on the battlefield was like painting a big target and _asking_ an enemy to go right for her. The fact that she had just survived twenty one years _and_ a war is amazing, if you look at it that way. She had to have some killer skills and I didn't doubt that she only improved on them after the war. _That_ was sexy: she was independent and strong. Not many anbu women went on solo missions unless they had to do with espionage and sex and I doubted that the Hokage would ever have her student do something like that, so it was clear that Sakura had become a one-woman army over the years. I was helplessly turned on by that knowledge.

"Stop looking at me like I'm weird. I like to dance, so stop making fun of me in your head." She crossed her arms and that did nothing to help my lewd thoughts of her. She ended up pushing her breasts up more and giving me a better view of them. Great, thanks a lot Sakura. I _definitely _wasn't making fun of her in my head, but I smirked to cover up for staring at her anyway. Stop staring Sasuke… hold your fucking liquor.

"Wait till I get a couple more drinks in you. I'll make you dance Uchiha Sasuke. And then _I'll_ laugh at _you_." She threatened seriously and I could only think that her tone was sexy when she spoke like that. Yep. I want her. I'm sorry, but I do. I should just leave her alone after fucking her over as kids, but I want nothing more than to get her attention. Ladies and gentlemen, I, Uchiha Sasuke, am an idiot.

"Not if you're the one dancing with me." I countered, despite my mixed thoughts. If she made me dance with her, I'd probably embarrass her as well as myself. I spent my life fighting, not dancing. Ask me to kill a man; no problem; I'll turn his death into a work of art you could marvel at. Ask me to dance? I'll probably look like an actor on an acid trip. She paused and seemed to eye me critically, despite the glaze over her eyes. Hah. She was just as blasted as I was. But anyway…

"…_Would _you dance with me if I asked you to?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Your drink's not out yet. You can't ask a question yet." I pointed out jokingly and she made an annoyed noise and smacked my shoulder. I laughed: she was cute when she was pissed. "Seriously Sasuke." She chastised. Wow, who ever thought she'd _ever_ have to ask_ me_ to be serious? When was I ever _not_ serious? … Apparently when I drank at night clubs with Sakura.

"I would, but only if I learned how to, first." I replied honestly, because… yeah… because liquor, I guess? Yeah. Liquor. We'll go with that, because… meh whatever. Dancing right? We were talking about dancing. Focus. Sakura had that mischievous smirk again and _fuck me_ it made her sexier.

"Okay. I'll grab you a teacher." She smiled, no I lied, she fucking _beamed_, and just then whatever-his-name dropped by with more drinks for us. She pulled him over so she could talk to him just as a song was ending. No. Fucking no. I was _not_ going to dance with that asshole. I would sooner suck Naruto's dick than dance with _that_ asshole out _there_. No way. Just then he tapped his barback and told her to take over. Sakura turned to me and I glared holes through her.

"I'm not dancing with him." I blurted. She stared at me, shocked for a moment before she snorted and doubled over laughing. I swear, she was laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach. I stared at her, confused. Why was she laughing?

"Sa— ah hah! –Sasu— hahahahaha! –Sasukeee!" And she was in another fit of laughter. Suddenly I felt stupid as the guy came over to her. Oh. _They_ were going to dance. _I_ was going to watch him. I felt stupid. Sakura held up her finger, making him wait. He nodded with a smile. She stepped off the bar stool and placed a hand on my shoulder. I bent down to listen to her as she spoke into my ear. Mm… she smelled like something feminine and dangerous. It was sexy and it fit who she had become perfectly.

"I'm going to dance with him, Sasuke, so watch carefully. Akio is sober too, so you can learn a lot from him. Watch my drink, ne?" She spoke softly and I nodded in response. She took off, holding hands with bartender-guy as they walked away from me. I willed some chakra to my eyes, because this prick was only getting _one_ dance with her. Fuck. Nothing happened. My eyes weren't working. I took a breath to steady myself. I forgot that everything took a lot more focus and discipline when I was _this _drunk. Fucking sharingan… work already. Suddenly, like a lever was slowly being pulled inside my brain, my dojutsu kekkei genkai sparked to life. I could feel the tomoe spinning around my irises and being drunk it felt powerful, even to me. I felt like my eyes were dangerous even to myself, especially since I was struggling in keeping my body under control.

Regardless, I zeroed in on Sakura's crown of pink hair in the crowd and tried not to focus on how good her ass looked she wiggled around to the beat of the song. They weren't holding each other…yet, but my eyes told me that he was thinking about it; the tension in his arms gave him away. The beat thrummed loudly and it wasn't long before I understood the way I was supposed to move my body. Dancing was easier than taijutsu. Way easier, actually. Sakura was doing most of the work. He was really only using a few muscles in his back, shoulders and legs to do what he was doing. I studied him religiously throughout that whole song, drinking my drink as I slipped off of my chair, and leaned against the bar. Eventually, I jumped when I felt a pair of hands slide intimately up my rib cage, feeling my body beneath my shirt.

Well… _that_ felt familiar.

I looked down to see a crown of dark brown hair and glazed chocolate eyes peering up at me. A perverse, feminine smile, rosy cheeks and a heavy perfumey scent mixed with the scent of _a lot _of liquor. When the hell did she get here? How the hell did she sneak up on me? Who is this woman, anyway? I studied her. She studied me. Her hands slid down to my belt. Shit. I quickly placed my hands on hers to stop her from undressing me because the sharingan wasn't a liar and that was her next move; unbuttoning my pants... I didn't want her to undress me because she didn't have pink hair and she wasn't Sakura. She was wearing a skin-tight black dress that dipped downwards in the front, showing off her cleavage. Her hair was loose and she had a long, thin gold chain with a tassel pendant hanging around her neck. I won't lie. She _really_ had a nice figure. Her chest was enticing, soft-looking and large. She had _everything _I wanted. But… she wasn't the woman I wanted tonight, so I think I frowned at her.

"Your eyes are scary when you frown." She commented with a seductive smile. Nope. She wasn't giving up _that_ easily. "Let me make you smile… You looked cute from the other side of the bar." She spoke sweetly, but I wasn't stupid, I knew what she wanted. She didn't care about _me_ she just cared about sleeping with me and I was oddly sentimental tonight and wasn't going to have any of that. I looked at the drinks I was supposed to be protecting. I placed a hand on her shoulder and slightly pushed her off of me. I called over the bar-back with a wave of my hand.

The short, blonde girl with violet eyes skipped over and cocked her head to the side. I could tell she was looking at my sharingan. I hopes she didn't recognize what it was. She was a civilian so it wasn't likely that she knew.

"Put two empty glasses up-side-down at these two seats. I'll be back." I ingrained the command into her mind with genjutsu just to be sure she got it and she nodded after looking at the girl and then at me and then at the seats in front of me.

"No problem, sir." And she pulled two glasses and placed them upside down on the bar in front of me, taking away the drinks what's-his-name made. I turned back to the girl. She had one hand on my belt, the other on her hip in a manner that made her look mildly annoyed. She had a nice ass, but again, for some reason I wasn't fully turned on, even though she was nice to look at. Whatever, she was going to have her uses tonight anyway.

"You'll have to dance with me first." I smirked and let my sharingan fade away. She nearly _drooled_ at the sight of my eyes in their normal state and nodded, leading me towards where Sakura and what's-his-name were. I passed Shikamaru and Temari on my way to the dance floor. Shikamaru put a hand on my shoulder and gave the nameless girl an odd look when she glared at him.

"Sasuke, we're going home. I'll see you later." The Nara called over the music.

I shook his hand and nodded. "Ja-ne." I responded.

And then the most out-of-place thing happened: Temari, fully shitfaced, hugged me, breaking the girl's hold on my hand. I patted her back awkwardly because I had no idea what to do. She laughed _loudly_ in my ear and I was sure I'd be deaf for days thanks to that.

"You're not so bratty anymore, Sasuke." She rubbed my head too. Weird. "See 'ya round!" And she was gone, following after her boyfriend through the dancing crowd. I felt a tug on my shirt and kept walking after the girl. She pulled me into the crowd and we started to dance just as this song was starting to end. She liked the way I was moving. She was completely and _utterly _focused on trying to get me to look at her. Well, too bad for her. I slowly danced with her over to where Sakura and bartender-guy were.

Once I had drunk-girl positioned in front of bartender-guy I acted. I tripped her. Well, not really. I actually made it so she tripped over a _teeny tiny_ raised marble tile on the floor. Her heels were high enough and I tipped forward so she'd have to tip back a little, throwing her off balance on those six-inch heels _just_ as one of them notched at the edge of that tile I was talking about. Remember how I said I was artistic in the way I sabotaged and killed people? Yeah this was one of those moments. She screamed, and fell into bartender guy who wasn't drunk, so he had enough reflex to let go of Sakura's _fucking _hips already and catch the drunk girl. Then I grabbed Sakura and pulled her out of that part of the dance floor.

"S-Sasuke!" She sounded surprised behind me. I squeezed her hand tighter.

Once there were enough bodies in between me and Sakura, and drunk-girl and bartender-guy, I spun around and smirked. She was gaping at me and then she smirked too and laughed, just as the song ended and another started.

"You forget that I learn quickly and get bored easily, Sakura." I bent down, and whispered into her ear as I picked up from where bartender-guy left off of and placed my hands on her hips.

"So show me what you got, Uchiha." She whispered back and started moving her hips to a new song. Fuck her body _burned _beneath my hands. I wanted to touch the skin beneath her dress. I straightened up and started moving, mimicking what I learned from bartender-guy _perfectly_. It was really a lot of elbow movements and quick, successive foot work. Sakura threw her hands up and moved them in time to the subtler beats of the song just as the main beat dropped and got going.

I couldn't believe how tempting she managed to look; her exotic pink hair, bouncing around in time with the song, her eyes, half lidded, and shielding her retinas from the various random bouts of strobes and lasers, the small, _exhilarated _smile on her full lips... Sakura was having _fun_. This was the first time I had seen her have fun since… since before I abandoned Konoha. I felt _accomplished_. She was enjoying herself and she was enjoying herself with me. Perfect. The beat became harder and she started to fucking _play with her hair_. I used my imagination and improvised—no— _perfected _the moves bartender-guy used to fit the changed beat of the song. Some movements became sharper, others less pronounced. Sakura was surprised as she looked up at me and gave me a small smile as she ran her hands from her hair down her sides, spun, moved her mid section like a _fucking_ snake and wrapped her arms around her body then threw them up and leaned back. She moved her legs in an artistic way and was back in my face before long, elongating her hair and her body by running her hands all over herself.

Oh no, no, Sakura, to my knowledge touching you is _my_ job at this point. Confidently, I placed my hands atop hers and outlined her curves as we moved in tune to the song. My thumbs gently crossed over her hip bones and I couldn't help but wonder what she'd look like _without_ her clothes on. Little by little she moved even closer to me, growing more comfortable. Eventually, I could feel the heat from her body as she danced fully against me. The beat wound up and she spun her hips hypnotically as she trailed her hands down my chest, abs, and to my waist. Thankfully, she moved her hands _around _my dick and avoided it _just_ barely as her thin fingers_ sensually_ trailed lower. Yes, I had just associated "sensual" with "Sakura". Fuck it. It was the truth. Sakura had one of her hands up, the other on the floor as she popped her hip and moved to dance her way back up to her full height.

As the beat wound more I grabbed one of her hands and she spun her body back up like a snake rising from its basket, lifting the other arm to create a decorative move that fit the beat perfectly. And _just_ as she had turned to face me, the beat dropped again and she had her fists in my shirt by my shoulders, moving her body against mine once more. Hn, for someone who couldn't walk very well in heels she was fantastic at dancing in them. I grabbed the fabric of her dress and pulled her closer.

"You were always a quick learner, Sasuke." She whispered again, _sensually_, as she wrapped her arms around my neck, moving quickly to the fast-paced song.

"Hn." No doubt I had a pleased smirk on my face.

"Hm." She responded with a short, pleased laugh. She pulled away from my neck to my distaste, but she _looked_ at me as she danced with me. As in she actually _looked_ at _me_ not my body, or my face, or the strength of my chakra. She was looking at _Sasuke_, not "the rare man with fortune and strength". She was _smiling_ pleasantly at Sasuke _the person_, not Sasuke, _the guy everyone wants._ Suddenly I realized another song started playing and it had a more fun beat to it so I smiled as I improvised again, this time having more fun than the during the last song. This song was a bit more fluid and smooth. Sakura also moved her body in a happy, fun and sexy sort of way. This was definitely a song for the women to dance to, so I let Sakura do most of the work, which she gladly did, unintentionally showing off as she was having fun. And I can vouch for the "_unintentionally"_ part of that sentence. She wasn't even looking at me. She was just bouncing around, letting her hair fly all over her face and shoulders. She even _laughed_.

At the height of the song, she threw me that mischievous smirk that I was quickly starting to fall for. And true to the surprising nature that little smirk hinted at, Sakura turned around and grinded her ass right into my hips, throwing her arms up. Now… before you call me a pervert, how the fuck could I _not_ resist touching her sides, her hips, _and_ her ass? I'd be a masochistic madman if I didn't, so I did, nevermind the fact that I _used_ to be a masochistic madman… not anymore though. Slowly, while the same beat lasted, I slid my hands down her hands, arms, ribcage, snake-like waist, hips backside and thighs, enjoying every curve I traced, enjoying every beat of my frantic heart as I watched this beautiful, familiar woman thread her fingers through my hair and place her hand atop mine on her hip. Greedily, I wanted her to look at me the way I was looking at her. Artfully, I turned her around because I wanted to see her eyes. She playfully smiled at me and kept turning, no giving me what I wanted. I laughed and we moved around each other. Eventually I got her to face me again and another song started.

This one was also girly. Sakura threw her head around and I honestly didn't mind all the hair in my face. In fact, I was fascinated how her perfume had managed to soak into it without being overbearing. I steadily held onto her and we kept dancing. Another song came and went. The song after was another hard, electric one, so we danced with everything we had to it. It was fun. I had never imagined I would ever let Sakura touch me the way she was touching me, but I felt her all over my body and honestly didn't mind it one bit. Her fingers lingered on my biceps, triceps, and chest, and sometimes she would playfully jump away, but pull me towards her by the belt loop of my pants. She had this small but daring and confident smile on the entire time, and I couldn't help but be enticed by it. It made me want to kiss her. But no matter how drunk I was I knew where the line was. I wouldn't cross it until she actually wanted me to, or unless she crossed it herself. I actually found myself _wishing_ she would. Anyway, we danced for kami-sama knows how long until one calmer song came on. It was still fun but it was a sweet song, so we held each other while we danced.

"Sasuke…"

"Mm?" I loved the way she said my name. Forget about me missing her calling me "Sasuke-kun". My name sounded perfect as it rolled off of her tongue the way she said it just now… I wanted to make her call my name again and again and again but… let's not go there with that thought…

"We should get some more drinks…If we still have our spot at the bar." She spoke and I smirked, confidently.

"We have our spot at the bar, Sakura." I replied almost proudly, because despite how wasted I was I had still planned ahead and had our seats taken care of. I started to pull away from her to take her back to the bar, because that was obviously what she wanted, but she tightened her hold around my neck. Why did that feel so good? Why did she feel so good to me? It's like she fit me perfectly. I was losing my grip on myself, wasn't I? I was _definitely _lost in the haze of inebriation and _beyond_ lost in everything that was "Sakura".

"We can finish this song; don't be rude." She teased in a playful tone as she traced her nails across the back of my neck in a sexy way… I controlled my shudder, bit my lip and took a slow, deep breath… I wanted those nails digging into and dragging across my back, as perverted and inappropriate as that sounds…

"Oh excuse me, how shameful of me to forget my drunk-at-the-party manners." I replied sarcastically to cover for my physical reaction and she giggled in my ear as we continued dancing. All-too-quickly the song ended and I was comfortably leading her back to the bar, her fingers intertwined with mine. To my satisfaction, our seats were the only ones vacant at the crowded bar, but hey, they were _vacant_. The cups were gone from Shikamaru and Temari's spots. Surprisingly, the drunk girl I had completely forgotten about was now behind the bar, learning how to make drinks with bartender-guy. I let go of Sakura's hand as we took our places. Bartender-guy smiled at Sakura, apologetically, but she just smiled and shook her head in return. Good. She didn't care about him like _that_, at least not anymore if she did before.

He got two tall glasses out and remade the drinks I had abandoned when he had left to dance with her. Sakura and I drank that round down rather quickly. Another round of the Kirigakure Blue Moon was placed in front of us soon afterwards and Sakura decided that it was time to continue our game from before. I decided I liked the song that was playing so I tapped my foot discreetly, or what I _thought_ was discreetly, while she asked.

"Do you like dancing now?" Sakura grinned and I snorted because that was such an impersonal question to waste a question on.

"Yes." I drank and responded. "Do you think I dance well?" I asked, because only a tiny part of me was still unsure. It was also a stupid question to waste a question on, but I didn't care.

"You dance as well as you learn how to do anything else." She smiled. "Cheater." Then she stuck her tongue out as she pointed to her eyes and I got what she meant. I shrugged. I would say she was just jealous that she didn't have the same ability Uchiha were naturally born with, _but _I was eternally grateful that she hadn't been born an Uchiha, because if she was, A: She'd be dead right now. And B: She'd be bland-looking. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Boring. Bland. She was sexy the way she was with her outrageous hair and eye color. At least to me she was; to me and to a lot of other guys too, probably. I wasn't easy to charm and she had somehow managed it. If she had won me over, no doubt it would be easy for her to have every other guy wrapped around her finger if she wanted.

"If I wasn't a cheater we wouldn't have had fun just now." I retorted and sipped.

"Mn. Good point." She sipped too and smiled at the bar beneath her. "What was the most important thing I missed these last four years?" She asked. Good question. What had she missed? _Everything_. I smirked, though, because I knew a witty response to that question.

"My twenty-first birthday." I replied. "We were all _hammered_; I think you were in Kumo at that point. Naruto only told me because it was my birthday." I laughed to myself at all the other stupid shit he said that night as well. "We almost convinced Kakashi to take his mask off. _Almost_." I held my finger up, because that 'almost' was important. Kakashi, despite being absolutely _piss_ drunk, had managed to make us _think_ we were going to convince him. Then, as usual, he shat on our entire argument at the last second and refused to ever show us his face after that. Ever. It was great. And Sakura wasn't there. If she was I'm pretty sure we'd have seen Kakashi's face by now.

"What! I should have been there! I could have helped!" She exclaimed, upset with herself more than she was with me.

"On your birthday we'll try again. Make sure you're nice to him that entire week." I plotted evilly, making up for her unhappiness.

"That's like… in a month and a half…" She had to pause and think for a second because I'm pretty sure she was drunk and she forgot what day it was already. I laughed at her and she lightly shoved me because she knew _exactly_ what I was thinking.

"To your credit I forgot the date too." I revealed, because I really did. It was easy to forget in this sort of setting… with enough alcohol in our bodies to kill a fully-grown horse. She shook her head and laughed to herself as she sipped more. The entire room was starting to tilt back and forth a little and I knew I was reaching my limit. If I drank any more it would start to spin.

"Oi… Sasuke?" She spoke and my head snapped back to her. I tried not to think about how weird the room looked when I did that. It was almost like my eyes were having trouble catching up to the room… or the room was having trouble catching up to my eyes; I couldn't exactly discern which one was more accurate. She started laughing. "The room is moving!" She tried to hold in a giggle. I felt myself grinning.

"I know. It started doing that a few seconds ago. You're late." I replied and she laughed more.

"Okay, so who wins this?" She asked motioning to us and the drinks.

"I don't know I could drink more but it would have to be at home." I replied, because that was the honest answer. I could down a lot more before I blacked out, but I didn't exactly want to black out in a club and I'm sure Sakura didn't want to either.

"Yeah, maybe this was a bad place to have a contest." She frowned. I didn't like her frowning. I had seen her frown way too many times throughout our lives. No more frowning for Sakura.

"We'll make up for it another day. It's not like I'm moving any time soon." And that thought made me laugh because I was sitting here, at a club, enjoying myself with Sakura around hundreds of sweaty people because Sakura moved into the apartment next to mine. She joined me in my laughter.

"How fucking crazy is this? We're here because Naruto is an idiot." And she laughed harder. I put my head down and laughed into my arms until tears came out because she was so fucking right. Naruto was an idiot. And as a result we were here. Laughing our asses off at the fact that we're here because Naruto's an idiot. I was also laughing because we were thinking about the same thing, except she had phrased my thoughts in a more comical way.

"We should prank him." I spoke after wiping my eyes on my sleeve. Sakura was having a hard time not ruining her makeup while wiping her eyes, not that I could tell she had any on anyway. I reached over and thumbed away her tears for her, making sure I didn't leave any marks on her face. I wiped my fingers off on my pants as she laughed one last time.

"Thanks." She started. "And yeah, though, if we prank him it has to be something _good_. Naruto's the king of pranks, remember?"

"Ah." I nodded my head and concentrated on the glowing blue bar table beneath my hand as I sipped on my drink. "This should be the last drink, by the way." I commented. It really wouldn't turn out good if I had another.

"Agreed." She chirped back. We sat in silence for a while. All I could think about was her, and how she felt against me when we danced, how her body felt beneath my hands and even how warm she was now, the skin of her arm slightly pressed against mine… I was fucking horny, pranks be damned. I couldn't think straight enough to trap an animal let alone come up with something to trap _Naruto_.

"Who-whaaa!" Some girl crashed into Sakura, knocking her purse-thing off of the table. I jammed my hand in between Sakura's rib cage and the edge of the bar so she wouldn't get bruised. It didn't really hurt because I was drunk and it was just my hand, but I watched as her eyes flew to it in panic anyway.

"Shit." Sakura cursed. I shook my head. I was all right. She turned her eyes to the girl on the floor and slid off of her chair.

"Owww… my fucking head…" The girl wore a fluttery purple dress and had messy blonde hair. She had hit her head on the bar on her way down. Ouch. That was going to hurt in the morning. Sakura started to help and reassure the crying girl while I tried to find the small contents that had fallen out of Sakura's compact purse. Her money was still in it, luckily but I know I saw lipstick or something fall out of it. Smirking when I found the small, black tube, I placed it back into the little container and snapped it shut just as she lifted the girl to her feet. The blonde was _still _crying, but Sakura was gentle, despite being annoyed. Another quality of hers that I found attractive.

"I'm gonna dieeeeee! In my sleeeeeep!" She wailed. "I don't wanna die because of a concussion!"

"Relax, I'm a medic." Sakura rubbed her shoulder reassuringly. I smirked as I watched her, not embarrassed at all that I was holding onto a feminine mini-purse while casually leaning against a bar in a masculine way. She inhaled, then exhaled and summoned healing chakra to her hands after a few seconds. The chakra flickered awkwardly before it coated her hands in a steady glow. Hah… I wasn't the only slow one when I was drunk. She was too. The girl watched her in fascination as Sakura healed her head.

"Ugh, shit that was tiring." Sakura groaned as her hand dropped just moments later. "You should go home. Be careful. Hold onto the bar and the wall. Always hold onto something solid." She advised, holding up a finger. The blonde hugged her, crying in relief, wailing something about Sakura being an angel sent from heaven that she'd never forget and stumbled away, holding onto the bar. Sakura sat back down on her chair and I handed her the purse-thing. She smiled at me as I slowly, carefully lifted myself back up onto the bar stool. Last thing I needed was to fall on my face in front of Sakura too.

"I think we should put a bunch of naked girls in his apartment when we know he's going to go back there with Hinata-chan." She smirked into her drink as she finished the last few sips off. Oh right, I forgot what we were talking about. That's right: pranking Naruto. I was too turned on to prank Naruto right now.

"If I come up with anything better, I'll let you know." And I downed the rest of my drink because I needed to go home soon before I lost control and said something stupid; like exactly what was on my mind.

"One more dance before we go?" She tipped her head towards the dance floor and I looked at it, wearily. Would I be able to even coordinate properly? I flexed the fingers in my hand. Yep. I was definitely slow. And a little numb. If someone punched me right now I might not exactly feel it.

…Fuck it.

I shrugged and I got up. Sakura did too and I was sure she was swaying just a _little_ as we wove through the crowd one more time. We danced to a few more fun songs, not afraid of being personal and close like before, which I didn't mind because I got to touch her more.

Thankfully, the DJ's changed when it got late and the music started to suck _just _as I was starting to think my body couldn't take any more of her subtle teasing. A few more minutes and I think I was actually drunk enough to start kissing her. That wouldn't turn out okay in the morning. I could be persuasive when I put effort into it and Sakura was as drunk as I was. She'd probably kiss me back and we'd end up with one hell of a headache the next day, completely unrelated to a hangover. I actually _enjoyed _being around her, so I didn't want to ruin what we had built this last week by moving too far, too fast… Besides, I wanted to want her _sober_ too, just to triple-check and make sure I was really as attracted to her as I thought. And before you start getting politically correct, I already know I want her in a sexual way.

Tonight actually made me think I wanted _her_. Every part of her. As in, her _mind_ as well as her body. I needed to be sure that that was correct. Why? I don't know. I don't know why that's so important, considering what I feel doesn't really matter because Sakura probably wouldn't give me a chance anyway. But whatever, I forgot where I was going with that. Anyway, none of it matters. I'll figure it all out tomorrow when I can think straight.

We wove through the crowds and found or way back to the bar. Sakura, still swaying slightly, hugged bartender-guy, and wished him a good night while drunk-girl glared at her. Afterwards, bartender-guy shook my hand and gave me a cryptic warning look that I ignored. After the weird exchange that sort of annoyed me, we headed through more crowds and finally got to the door. Once we stepped outside, I noticed first that my ears were ringing and that the streets were emptier than before. The fireworks were done and the air was slightly smoky. Food stands were still open and operating, so I grabbed Sakura's hand and started dragging her towards the food, because I needed something bland to counter all the acid in my stomach, _now_.

"Onirigi, Sasuke! Onigiri is my favorite! Let's have that!" Sakura suggested as she realized what I was doing. I thought anmitsu was her favorite? Whatever, I smiled anyway because she was still having fun and because she was asking for nii-san's favorite dish. I took her to an onigiri stand.

"Welcome!" The man at the stand was dressed all in white and had a booming voice. He was hardy, grey-haired and middle-aged and seemed to have a good attitude. I would never admit this openly, but I liked people like that now. I used to hate people like that because they pissed me off, but I had changed my opinion years ago. "What can I made for such a lovely couple tonight?" He asked with vigor and kindness in his voice. I dropped Sakura's hand, awkwardly. Fuck, I forgot we were still holding hands. She laughed in good humor, unaffected by my slightly rude reaction and pointed at me.

"Gomenasai, ojii-san but we're not a couple." She giggled. "I think you just embarrassed my friend."

I rolled my eyes as the guy laughed along with her.

"My mistake! This one will be one the house then. What'll it be?" He asked.

"I'll take a salmon onigiri." Sakura smiled. I smiled to myself because that was exactly what Itachi-nii would get.

"Another salmon for me." I added.

"Coming right up!" His voice boomed again.

He turned around and put the onigiri together as Sakura fished money out of her purse-thing. I stopped her with a hand on top of the object and she frowned up at me.

"Let me." I _commanded_, because I was the man here and food was my idea. If she was going to tip the guy or pay for it anyway, _I_ should be the one to do it. She studied my face carefully and decided it wasn't worth arguing. The onigiri man turned around with our onigiri just as I placed a hefty tip in the tip jar by the register. The man was kind and he deserved it.

"Arigato!" Sakura beamed, but didn't risk bowing as she took the small cardboard box from the man. He smiled at her and nodded at me.

"You're welcome! Enjoy the rest of your night!" He called just as we left the stand. I looked at the moon but I was too drunk to be able to tell what time it was. It was fucking late; that's what it was. I was starting to feel like an old man and my balls were starting to hurt. Regardless, I wasn't going to let that affect me. I pulled her along until we found a wooden bench to crash on. I fell into it, stretching out on it as she stood in her heels, laughing away.

"What?" I asked. What was so funny? I smirked, because her laughter was contagious, but I decided against outright laughing because I didn't want to seem _that_ drunk.

"You left me on a bench and now you're making me sit on one with you." She pointed out and kept laughing. This was my chance to talk to her about that night, but I knew it would spoil her mood so I bit my tongue. Kakashi had taught me about perfect timing. Now wouldn't classify as "perfect timing". So I just shook my head and frowned.

"I'm sorry." I apologized genuinely and I felt _better_ at least getting that off of my chest. She shrugged, smiling lightheartedly and eased herself into the bench next to me with a relieved sigh.

"My feet are killing me." She complained as she opened the box and moved it so it faced me. I grabbed my onigiri and watched as she pulled hers out of the box.

"I can carry you if you want." I shrugged. You know by now that I wouldn't exactly _mind_ having her all over me…

"Nah, I'll make it home." She shook her head.

"Home is forty-five minutes away. Make sure you think that decision through thoroughly." I advised as I bit into my snack. I don't know if it's because I'm in a good mood, or if the onigiri is just that good, but I swear on my Uchiha lineage that this is the best onigiri I have ever tasted, second only to my mother's. And to top it all off, the rice and nori were bland enough to balance out the acidity I was feeling burning through my stomach. I stared down at the rice ball. This onigiri was unfortunate. I was pretty sure all of the alcohol I drank was instantly dissolving it as it hit my stomach. I almost shrugged to myself. Oh well. I continued munching as Sakura swallowed and responded to my advice.

"Temari did it. Why can't I?" She shrugged as she bit into her onigiri again. I shrugged back.

"You _can_ but you know as well as I do that you _shouldn't_." I clarified, because I was pretty sure her feet would be screaming in pain after walking down dirt roads for 45 minutes in heels like that. Shit, mine would be. I was eternally grateful I was born male and not female.

"You have no faith." She chastised. I snorted. Yeah okay, keep telling yourself stories, Sakura.

"You're welcome to try." I shrugged. "I won't stop you, but you complain once and it's game over." I threatened without venom. She laughed.

"Fine, you're on, but only because that girl sucked up what little chakra I had the concentration to summon; otherwise I'd be working on unsealing my other shoes." She frowned at the purse in her lap. Yeah, I'm giving up on figuring out that thing is called, by the way. She's a girl and that thing has her stuff in it. Thus, it's a purse from now on.

I chuckled. "You shouldn't have used such a complicated seal to seal your shoes in."

"I wasn't expecting you to keep up with me. I wasn't expecting to get this wasted." She revealed with a laugh. "Otherwise I would have used the most basic seal." She shrugged.

"So the contest is a tie?" I asked, because if she was as wasted as I was, we were evenly matched until we had the opportunity to drink until we black out… which I _still _wasn't looking forward to because my stomach was going to kill me after that too. Speaking of which, I needed water. We needed to get home, now. I waited for Sakura to finish, then took our trash, throwing it into a nearby trash can. I walked over and offered her my hand. She shook her head and stood up on her own two feet. Fine, Sakura, but if you fall don't blame me for laughing. I waited for her to stabilize herself before I started walking back towards Konoha.

"You think Naruto will make a great Hokage?" She began, now comfortable speaking to me. This walk back was different than the one we took to Hofuku… I liked it. It was nostalgic, easy-going and familiar.

"I think he'll make a _revolutionary_ Hokage… He'll have to be careful." 'Revolutionary' was the right word for my blonde brother. He would definitely bring about a change unlike any other.

"He's been different since Tsunade-sama took him under her wing." Sakura commented. "He's sharper. He's learning politics." She sounded somewhat worried. "I don't want him to get caught up in the mess…" She explained, as if she knew "the mess" really well.

"And you've been caught in it?" I asked, in a serious tone. It made sense that she would be. She was the godaime's apprentice. No doubt, Sakura had a hand in Konoha's politics throughout the years.

"It's not pretty, Sasuke. You know that." She replied softly. I wondered if she'd done anything she regretted. I looked over and her jade eyes were troubled. So I did something stupid; I gently shoved her.

"Wh~hoaaaa!" She started to fall, so I caught her by her forearm. What the fuck was I doing? She glared up at me, but I offered her a small smile because I didn't want her unhappy.

"You're supposed to be having fun, remember?" I explained. She turned, looked at the bustling town we were leaving and then looked back to me. She shook her head and laughed.

"I'm analytical, I can't help it." She revealed.

"I see that."

We continued walking. I shoved my hands in my pockets, because it felt like the comfortable thing to do. People passed us by, laughing and dancing on their way home. Somehow, I wished my brother could experience this sort of peace. Itachi would love it. I apologize, nii-san, about what I did, even though it's what you wanted in the end, anyway…

Sakura inhaled the scent on the warm breeze, distracting me from my thoughts. I looked over and she smiled at me.

"Summer is going to be long this year!" Now she grinned. "I'm going to take Naruto to the Crescent Moon Island for a vacation." She commented, then put on a snobbish tone of voice. "You're cordially invited, Uchiha-san."

"Hn. I'll think about it." I replied, pretending to be cold to the idea.

"What? Afraid that taking your shirt off will get you more marriage proposals?" She grinned evilly. My face felt hot. Actually, yes, that's _exactly_ what was probably going to happen. Shit, how many women had asked me to give them kids so far? Blech. Some of them were a lot older than me too. I shook my head.

"You don't know what it's like." I defended myself.

"No I don't." She replied. "But I'd probably be a little freaked out if a guy came up to me and asked me to bear his children. I can only imagine what you must feel like." And she started laughing, as if my situation was comical to her.

"Shut up, Sakura." I shot back half-heartedly. She was still giggling. I rolled my eyes. It really _wasn't_ funny. I got enough shit about it from Naruto.

"Do you even plan on having kids?" She suddenly asked. The question made me confused, now that I saw _her_ in a different light.

"I don't think it's a good idea." I replied wearily.

"I'm not _asking_ to have your kids for you, dummy. I'm asking you if you personally _want_ kids for _yourself_." She clarified, because maybe I came off too tense to her.

"I _know_ you're not." I wasn't _stupid_ I knew she was _way_ over me. "But really, I don't think it's a good idea." I insisted. I looked at my hands. I was cursed. At least, my genes and my blood were, so why have a kid? To ruin his life and the lives of everyone around him? What if he became as hateful as I was or as Obito was for some stupid reason? Would I have to kill my own son to prevent a war like Itachi killed his own family? No. That was fucked up. Why continue the cycle if it could end at me?

"I think Naruto should have kids. I'd have fun being Auntie Sakura." Sakura thankfully changed the subject and diverted my negative thoughts to more comical ones.

"Tch, they'd call you names. You know how Naruto is, no doubt his kids would be the same." Because at least _one_ of his kids would _definitely _turn out like him. They couldn't _all_ be as well-mannered and good-natured as Hinata, of course. And at this Sakura laughed.

We walked in a comfortable silence until at about eight-tenths of the way, when Sakura must have stepped wrong or something.

"Fuuuuck!" She suddenly shrieked. I snapped my head to the side just in time to see her ankle crumple beneath her leg. She was falling towards me, so I caught her. She was warm and small in my arms and I loved the feeling of her hands caressing my shoulders.

"Enough is enough." I put my foot down and she glared up at me. I glared back down at her. "On my back. Now." I commanded.

"It's not sprained!" She insisted. "I just stepped wrong."

"Good, then you can take two steps to move behind me so I can carry you." I snapped back, unrelenting. She gaped up at me and I gave her an impatient look back.

"No." She stubbornly defied with an attitude in her tone.

"Fine." I lifted her up and she squeaked in surprise.

"S-Sasukeeeee!" She wailed, cheeks bright pink. "This is _so_ embarrassing! Stop!" She smacked my chest but the skin beneath only stung minorly.

"Hn. No." I defied her like she defied me and she was powerless to really do anything about it, because without her chakra-enhanced strength I was stronger than she was. She wasn't really trying that hard anyway, physically at least. But, Sakura was smart and she _knew _her voice annoyed me and got me to do things more than her fists ever could…

"Sasuke, _pleaeeeeease_! What if the guards at the gates see!? They'll get the wrong idea and I don't exactly feel like being hated by all women of the Fire Country! Come ooooon!" She tried to shake me but she only managed to pull on my shirt as I continued walking. She was quiet after I ignored her, thank Kami-sama, but that was all just because she started to plot.

"If I agree to stay on your back will you let me down?" I stopped and looked at her as she asked, innocently. She looked and sounded so genuine and I was still drunk, so without really thinking, I nodded and set her down. I bent at my knees and listened as she walked around me. She bent down once she was behind me to rub the skin at her ankles, or so I_ thought_… Because the next thing she did was kick me behind my knee. My leg crumpled as she started cackling and for the first time in my entire twenty-one years of life I was down on one knee because of the wits of a single _woman_.

"Last one to Konoha has to do give Naruto a pedicure!" She moved to leap over me, now completely out of her heels, but I grabbed her leg before she could leapfrog over me. She shrieked in the middle of the quiet road and fell forward. Fuck I hadn't thought this through completely, I just acted on reflex. Her dress got caught on the back of my head and we both rolled forward, and then wrestled each other to the side of the road. I ended up on top of her, pinning her wrists to the ground, breathing heavily. Sakura was strong when she put effort into it. Despite that, she still felt so delicate beneath my body, on this road under the dim streetlight. I felt my face get hot, imagining us like this, except maybe in a bedroom, on a bed. Her chest was also heaving up and down with the need for air, rising to touch mine softly, then falling back down. I wanted her to feel as nervous as I did, but she looked completely unfazed; staring up at me, still giggling at her botched escape attempt.

"No one will be giving Naruto any pedicures." I deadpanned and she started laughing stupidly at me, because in my "I will kill you all" tone that sentence sounded… _comical_… even to me.

"Sasuke… my dress is getting dirty." She suddenly frowned and I smirked. Good.

"That's what you get for being childish." I replied. She pouted in response.

"But it would have worked if your chicken-hair hadn't gotten in the way!" She argued and tried to move her arms in response. Her hips bucked beneath mine and I had to grit my teeth and bite down on my tongue because I was so afraid she would feel me get hard.

"Do it again and I swear, Sakura I'll go to every woman who has asked me to be the Uchiha matriarch in the last year and give them your name and your picture and tell them I am formally rejecting all of them in favor of you." I threatened and Sakura paled.

"Let's… not get _extreme…_Sasuke, ne?" She smiled nervously.

"Is that a promise of compliance?" I checked, because I had to be sure. She nodded and I released her, as much to my relief as to hers. Let's try this again. I bent over after she stood and this time around she climbed up on my back. I lifted her with ease, grimacing because my hands felt wonderful on her bare thighs. I walked over to the red heels she abandoned.

"Hang on." I instructed and she wrapped her legs around my waist and tightened her hold around my shoulders. I let go one of her thighs to grab the heels by their straps. Once I had those I placed my hand back on her thigh and continued walking as she let her legs dangle in front of me. She started giggling and I had no idea why. I was getting pissed off, not at her, but at myself for being so sexually frustrated. I was ready to explode and I needed to get home so I could jack off already.

"What?" I asked and she took pieces of her hair and tickled my face with them. I shook my head.

"Sakura, _stop_." Because really, how much more could she entice me with? This was torture.

"That's what your chicken hair is doing to me." She commented with a laugh.

"So put your face somewhere else." I felt my face get hotter. It wasn't _my_ fault my hair stood up back there. Fuck, kami-sama why couldn't Itachi have been born with my cowlicks?

"Okay." I felt her shrug and she placed her warm cheek against mine. Her breasts were pressing against my back and I desperately just wanted to go home. Sakura was dangerous to my sanity and control… _very_ dangerous. Her hair fell down my shirt and tickled my chest as I picked up my pace, trying not to imagine that same pink hair splayed out on my pillow, or remember her soft breath against my neck as we danced earlier. Konoha was only about five minutes away.

We reached the gates quicker than that, and the gate guards stopped us. After seeing that it was us and checking our chakra to double check that it was actually us, they let us through, quietly, because Sakura pretended to be sleeping to avoid making conversation that she knew I didn't really want to make; smart woman. Once we were far away enough, she began to talk again.

"You're welcome." She spoke, peeved that I didn't thank her for faking sleep. I could smell the liquor from her lips. I wasn't disappointed though, because I'm sure she could smell it on me too. I was still very drunk and I was thoroughly amazed that I hadn't fallen, tripped, or made out with Sakura… yet. I began to get nervous as we neared our apartment complex.

"Hn. Thank you." I replied quietly, not wanting my voice to echo off of the houses around us.

"Much better." She whispered into my ear, making me shudder. She sounded so seductive. I wondered if she was as turned on as I was. I wouldn't be surprised if she was. No normal human being would be unaffected after we touched each other all over at a club, dancing to that kind of music. I carried her up the stairs, again, amazed that I didn't fall backwards; amazed that she trusted me not to fall backwards. I think I didn't fall backwards because she trusted me not to. Whatever. I didn't fall backwards. I was so tired. So sleepy. All I wanted to do was sleep. But Kami-sama wasn't that kind to me. I set Sakura down and watched from the corner of my eye as she fixed her dress, pulling it down to cover her alluring legs because it had ridden up while she was on my back. She was rifling through her purse.

"Sasuke?" She asked, a slightly worried tone to her voice.

"Mn?" I turned to her, the key to my apartment in my hand, ready to turn that knob, walk through that door, masturbate vigorously and go to bed. _Bed_. Where I would _sleep_. Peacefully. But no. Life was never that easy for Uchiha Sasuke. I should have known.

"Did… did my key fall out of my clutch at Hofuku?" She asked, worried and dug through the purse more. Oh. So it was called a _clutch_. Hmm…

"I didn't see one. I saw your lipstick fall out." I really didn't remember seeing a key fall out. But again, the lights were flashing and I was _really _drunk. I probably really just missed it.

"Shi_t_." She cursed to herself. She eventually turned the thing upside down and dumped her sealing paper, money and the lipstick on the floor. She shook the clutch. Nothing else came out. Dumbly, I picked up her stuff once again; checking twice to make sure that I had gotten everything this time around. When I bent up I saw her frowning.

"Well, fuck. I have to go to Naruto's now. My shoes please?" She stuck her hand out and I looked from her shoes to her hand. Was she crazy? Naruto's apartment was on the other side of Konoha. What the _fuck_ would Hinata think if she found her there the next morning? I clutched her shoes to my chest as if having no shoes would actually stop her from going.

"You're not going there." I explained calmly, because I wasn't going to let her.

"Naruto's apartment is the only other place I can stay. This isn't a joke. I need to sleep. Now." She put her hands on the hips I was caressing earlier that night. Fuck. I _really_ didn't want her going there. Why? I don't know. Naruto was trustworthy. He wouldn't do anything weird, it was just _something_ was telling me not to let her leave.

"So sleep at my apartment. You're right here." I snapped back, feigning annoying to cover for that weird little voice in the back of my head.

She looked at her apartment, then at my apartment.

"Fuck, I wish I could just… knock the door down…" She looked at her fist and I covered it with my hand. The land lady would kick us _both_ out if she did that. _Both of us_.

"Just call them in the morning and have a locksmith change your locks. Get a new key. Stay here." I reiterated. Just fucking stay here Sakura. My instincts are never wrong.

"You realize that changing the locks will take a week, right? I'll be trolling all over your space for a week. I don't think you can handle that. Let me go to Naruto's instead." She replied nonchalantly. I was getting annoyed now.

"Just fucking stay." I was done arguing. I was tired. I wanted to go to sleep.

She looked at me with a stunned look on her face. Fuck. Shit. I didn't _mean _to curse at her.

"Sorry." I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers and to my surprise she laughed.

"Awwwwww wittle Sasuke-_chan_ is tiiiiiired…" She cooed. "How cute!" She reached up and pinched my cheek before I could smack her hand away, missing horribly when I finally reacted, anyway. She laughed again.

"Okay open your door, dummy. I'm tired too." I frowned at her for calling me stupid, but I turned and opened my apartment. I let her in first. She stepped inside. I shut and locked the door behind us. I turned to find her going to the living room. Hell _no _she wasn't going to sleep on my _expensive _leather couch in her dirt-covered dress. No.

"Sakura stop." Her ass was about a foot away from my couch. She froze, eyes wide, probably worried that I had actually boobie-trapped my apartment. I smirked. "If you put your ass on that couch I'll make you sorry." I threatened. She stood up and spun around, hands on her hips again.

"_What_." She hissed with narrowed eyes.

"Your dress is dirty and that couch is expensive." I pointed out and walked over to my bedroom. I opened the door and stepped inside. Clothes. I had to get her clothes of some sort that would fit her. Would clothes from when I was seventeen work? I rifled through my drawers. I found the smallest shirt I owned that had shrunk a little in the wash a while ago and a pair of boxers that thankfully had a button in the front so they wouldn't open up on her in the middle of the night. I turned around with the clothes and she was leaning against my door frame tiredly. I still had her shoes. She was smirking at them. Yes, I probably _did_ look out of place, walking around my apartment with a pair of sexy, red heels in hand. I gave her the clothes. She took them with a grateful smile.

"The bathroom is through that door, next to the living room wall." I instructed

"I know. I figured your apartment directly mirrored mine." She shrugged and I walked past her to put her shoes and mine at the entrance.

"Do you have towels in there?" She asked.

"Ah." I called over my shoulder. Water. I needed water now. I prayed she wouldn't take too long showering because I needed to piss really bad. I needed to jack off too. Kami-sama why me? I glared up at the ceiling to accentuate my point. I heard the bathroom door click shut. Not long after, the shower started. I found a jug of filtered water in my refrigerator. I drank it down like I had just spent a week lost in the deserts surrounding Suna. Water… _Water_. Water was amazing. I leaned against my kitchen counter. About ten minutes later Sakura walked out in my old clothes. The shirt was still baggy on her and covered the shorts completely. She looked like she was naked… in just my shirt, her hair still wet and clinging around her breasts and face… _Fuck_. I'm an idiot. I almost smacked my forehead with my palm. I was really stupid. I was also masochistic, doing this to myself. Why was I doing this to myself? I should have told her to go take a hike, but now she smelled like herself, just covered in a lot of what smelled like _me_… looking half _fucking _naked in _my _clothes. Black looked good on her skin. It accentuated her eyes and her hair.

I moved towards my bathroom, carefully. "Just find a place to crash on." I mumbled as I walked past her.

"Okay, thanks Sasuke." Because I'm an idiot, I turned around to find her head turned, looking at me with her beautiful, wide, green eyes, the Uchiha fan displayed almost proudly on her back, only slightly obstructed by her pink strands of hair. I turned red and nodded, tearing my eyes away before my body decided to come up with other ideas.

I stepped onto the cool, white tiles, and closed the bathroom door behind me in relief. Ah sweet, kami-sama my _bathroom_. I was safe from temptation here. I turned on the shower, did my business in the toilet, jacked off in the shower to avoid problems later and to clear my stupid head, and washed myself down. Feeling six thousand times better than before, I stepped out of my shower and realized that in my _stupidity_ I forgot to grab clothes. Fuck. It never ends, I swear. I grimaced at my clothes on the floor. No way. I'm not putting those back on. I just showered. I wrapped my white towel around my waste, since Sakura had used my red one, and stealthily stepped out. The living room and the kitchen were both dark.

Okay… Sakura had turned the lights off… My eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark yet, but I assumed she was crashing on the couch, asleep already. I flicked the light from the bathroom off and walked towards my bedroom, only bumping into the kitchen table on my way there. I flicked my light on, and glared holes through Sakura's—Yes, _Sakura's—_ pink head.

She was under _my _covers, sleeping peacefully… _on my fucking bed_. _My. _Fucking. Bed. _Mine._ I rolled my eyes. I would have to wake her up and _make _her move at this rate. I remembered my nakedness suddenly and stealthily, I grabbed my black pajama pants and ran back to the bathroom before she could wake up, see me in my towel and accuse me of being a pervert. I dressed, hung my towel next to the one she hung on the towel rack and strode right back in my room. The light wasn't waking her up, so I bent down next to my full-twin bed and shook her.

"Mnah. Naruto fucking _stop_." She grumbled and somehow managed to be relatively accurate as she tried to swat my face in a big, sloppy movement that told me she was still as drunk as I was.

"Sakura it's not Naruto, it's _me_, now stop fucking around and get out of my bed." I asserted, though, I lowered my voice to not wake up the neighbors beneath us. She turned around. _She fucking turned around! _Fine. Two could play at that game. That was _my_ fucking bed. _I _was going to sleep in it, morning consequences be damned. I pushed her over one more time, centering my hands at her lower back and she grumbled again.

"M~Okay, okay! … Get a bigger fucking bed…" I guess she went to Naruto's a lot when she was this drunk. Whatever, I climbed in under the covers next to her. I was too tired for all this shit. I fell asleep facing away from her, praying I would face that way until morning.

-X-

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA The next chapter should be fun to write. I love throwing Sasuke and Sakura into awkward scenarios. I hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I make no money writing this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	11. Pictures

KISEKI

|11|

-X-

Ugh… I actually had a hangover… there had to be _a lot_ of sugar in what Aki-kun made last night. I didn't wanna open my eyes. If I opened my eyes; I'd definitely burn my eye balls out of my head. So I moved to get up instead. I couldn't. Fuck. I tried again. Something was holding me down. Where the fuck am I?

"Mmrnph…"

I froze. That was… that was a _really _masculine-sounding voice. As I focused and woke up more, a heartbeat registered against my back. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Whoever he was he was healthy, ig his resting heart rate was anything to go by. If anything he was in pique form. His steady deep breaths registered right behind my ear and I felt soft, _hot_ breaths rolling over the skin of my neck. I realized he was laying down on my hair, too, and for some reason, I didn't _smell _like myself. I smelled different. Everything was different and it all pointed to the worst possible scenario. My eyes flew open, heart thudding wildly in my panic.

My sight cleared to find that I was staring at a blank wall. Fuck. That told me nothing. Something warm and sinfully rough rubbed against my stomach. I froze again. I looked down. There was a _fucking _hand. _Under_ my shirt. It was masculine and beautiful as far as bone structure went, but that was of no comfort to me. It didn't help that that hand was attached to a muscled arm. I had probably given in and slept with a shinobi, but with which one!? What the _fuck_ happened last night? I remembered… I remembered… dancing.

I danced with Sasuke! Wait… _Sasuke_ carried me home! So where am I and why am I facing a wall, covered by some man wearing his _fucking _annoying high-collared clothes!? Wait… a high collar with a zipper in the front…I looked down at my shirt and my breath caught in my throat… No… we couldn't… we didn't… I craned my head back a little, tugging my hair free from under the man's head. Please kami-sama tell me I slept with a stranger and not Sasuke… I gaped as my eyes flew over a head of messy, navy-black hair, a straight nose and a peaceful expression.

Sasuke.

Sasuke.

_Sasuke_…

…

..

.

Okay Sakura… don't panic… you're still clothed. You're _clothed_. Which means, we probably _didn't_ have sex. But then why do I smell like him? My hair felt clean so I know I used his shower. So… did we have sex or did I just use his shower? Sometimes I showered at the guy's place after I had a one night stand. _Sometimes_. So… did I just make the biggest mistake in my whole entire life? I stared at Sasuke's peacefully sleeping face as if it would actually give me answers. My eyes flew past him and I leaned up to study his room. The walls were white and the carpet was a dark blue. Everything smelled clean with a bit of Sasuke on it. You couldn't really rid your home of your own scent unless you bleached it every day. There was a desk against the wall opposite of us, a window not too far away from the bed and a closet next to the desk. I could see my little red and white clutch sitting on the edge of his nightstand directly next to his bed… There was a hamper next to the closet door _still_ filled with a huge pile of clothes, but the white and red color scheme at the very top caught my eye… shit. Shit. That was _not_ a good sign.

My dress was in his hamper. _My_ dress from last night… was in _his_ hamper… Please, kami-sama for all that is good in this world, please tell me Sasuke and I didn't have sex! I searched frantically through my memories. I think I remembered using his shower. And his mouthwash. Okay, okay, good. I was on the right—

Oh fuckfuckfuckfuck_fuck! _ He smiled peacefully in his sleep as his fingers trailed over my ribcage just under my breasts. Sasuke what the _fuck_ are you doing!? I stared at him with a horror-filled expression on my face. I quickly turned my body back around and squished my breasts together barring his hand's path with my arm. He pushed against my arm to feel more of my skin, grumbled in his sleep and then gave up. He settled for less and went back to rubbing my fucking stomach, but believe me you, it was _nothing_ I could laugh at. His touch was warm, sensual and gentle. He touched me in a way that was definitely making me wet. He touched me in a way that made me want his hands _everywhere_.

Damn… if he's _this _sexy when he's asleep… how amazing is he when he's awake? If we had sex already should I just wake him up for morning sex? Wait! Stop! Stop thinking that! Bad thoughts, Sakura! I tried not to focus on what my stupid brain was trying to reason with me.

I almost groaned to myself as he ran his thumb over the scar on my stomach. Kami-sama, _Sasuke_ I am _not_ Buddha! Stop it already! I wanted to cry because I was so unfairly turned on, especially after I remembered that he had touched me like that on the dance floor too... His hands felt powerful and masculine on my soft skin. It was so sexy. I remembered his fingers running over the skin of my arms and thighs last night too… He had been gentle then, so gentle I didn't actually think it was possible for someone as strong as he is, but he did it. Ugh… kami-sama… why me? Mmmmn… his thumb was now rubbing my hip bone. His callouses turned me on, reminding me of what he was. I was starting to squirm and pant because I was _really _turned on. There was a need burning between my legs and it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. This was _not_ fair.

Okay, okay, I have to think. I have to focus. I have to _sneak_ away without waking him up. It will be awkward if he wakes up. If he wakes up… will he think we had sex too? What were we even doing in the same bed!? How did we end up here!? What were we thinking!? Why wasn't I home!? Shit. My key! I remembered that I lost my key. So why didn't I just go to Naruto's?

"_Just fucking stay_." Oh… right. Okay. This is good. These are memories. What happened next, Sakura? Think. He gave me his clothes… I think. That's right he gave me his clothes because I remembered how gay he looked carrying around my heels in his apartment, as if he was planning on wearing them. I snorted at the memory.

"Mn…S'kura…" Shit… I almost woke him.

Okay, maybe I could put a genjutsu somewhere around him so he'd fall into it when he wakes up… Would he notice if I put a genjutsu on his surroundings… he probably would; he's _Sasuke_, duh. But how _long_ would it take him to notice, especially since he'd be waking up to one? Would it be long enough to give me time to, um, disentangle us?

But wait, I probably couldn't even _use_ my chakra. Sasuke was a _shinobi_. His instincts would be to wake up _immediately _upon sensing a foreign chakra so near hi— Aa~ah! He slid his hand down the curve of my side and over my thigh, then back up to my hip and started stroking my hip over the shorts I was wearing. At first I was worried that he'd end up pulling my shorts off completely on accident but then, I heard him speak.

"Mn~S'kura… Go back t'sleep…" He was _petting _me in his drunken sleep so I would fall back asleep.

"Sasuke…" I whispered. Hoping he'd stay asleep.

"Mm?" His eyes were still closed as I slightly turned to look at him. He snuggled his face further into my hair and I couldn't describe the action as anything but "adborable".

"Did we have sex?" I asked. Please stay half-asleep… please stay half asleep…

"'M not…" There was a small frown on his face. "'N asshole…like Y'manaka…" I smiled at him. I could kiss him even if he called Suchiru an asshole. He hadn't slept with me. He didn't take advantage of me.

Now relieved, I noticed it was still sort-of dark outside. The light coming through the crack in the curtains was somewhat faint. Fuck it; Sasuke was comfortable, so I closed my eyes and snuggled further into him. I mean, whatever, It's not like I hadn't slept next to Naruto before, anyway. As turned on as I was, I ignored that fact and I even _boldly_ turned around in his arms. I wasn't afraid of him anymore. Sasuke was my _friend_ now. We had moved on. The past was the past.

I giggled because he was _dead_ asleep now. He wrapped his arms around me and I pressed my head against his chest. He combed my hair out of his face, a little roughly, but he still patted my head and it felt _nice_. I took advantage of the moment and allowed his breathing, his warmth and his heartbeat to lull me back to sleep. It had been forever since I had someone to cuddle with to chase away the nightmares. I might as well enjoy the situation and get a full night's sleep.

-X-

I awoke some time later to the feeling of someone rubbing my back. It was so nice and comforting...

"Mmmm…" I felt myself smile in my half-asleep state. Imagine the softest, warmest fuzziest blanket you own. Okay good. Now imagine being wrapped around in that blanket with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold, snowy day... with your favorite fuzzy animal curled up on a comfy arm chair with you. _That's _how comfortable I felt right now. This… this was _glorious_.

"Sakura…" The voice was trying to pull me away from my happy place. It was a beautiful voice and my heart fluttered a little but fuck it; sleep was more important. I was dreaming about being a bridesmaid in Kakashi and Kurenai's wedding. They were about to say their vows.

"Mnn no…" I childishly argued back. Shut up, I want to hear them say "I do" and promise themselves to each other…

"Sakura wake up." It sounded like Sasuke. He always liked to ruin things for me.

"No." I wasn't going to let him ruin Kakashi-sensei's wedding, no matter how good he looked standing across from me during it.

The comfortable rubbing stopped. I frowned. Wait, why was I hearing Sasuke, so clearly again? Shit! My eyes flew open. Yep. There was a _really_ sexy naked torso, all on display for me. Shit. My eyes roamed from the shoulder all the way down to the "v" at the waistband. Oh my God. It should be illegal to be that good-looking. It could cause heart attacks.

The memories suddenly came back, however. That's right; Sasuke and I had fallen asleep together. Okay… relax… teammates do this sort of thing… Sasuke's a _bro_ Sakura. Calm the _hell_ down! We didn't have sex, either. I pulled away and gave him a confused look, because I was really confused as to how he got into his bed next to me. I wanted to know how that happened.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"_You_ commandeered _my_ bed." He glared at me with his sexy half-lidded tired eyes, and spoke in his sexy tired voice. Nothing was sexier than a guy's 'tired' voice. I don't care what you say. "I came to take it back and we had a stalemate." He explained.

Oh that's right. I stole his bed. I forgot about that part. I smirked at him.

"Your couch doesn't have blankets and you told me to find a place to crash so I did." I shrugged so eternally grateful that more memories were coming back. Sasuke had never kissed me. Not once. He had never touched me. I remembered feeling his eyes on me, but he never did anything sexual with me. Good.

"I would have given you blankets if you had waited for me to finish showering." He explained. Was he mad?

"Don't be mad because I outsmarted you." I stuck my tongue out at him and he moved to grab it between his fingers. Scared, I stuck it back in my mouth before he could catch it.

"I'm not mad. But you have to stay here a week, remember? This is _my_ bed." He explained, now more awake than before. I frowned. That's right, I might as well just stay here until my lock is changed and I have a new key. But aside from that…

"You've never shared a bed with anyone before?" I asked.

"Not platonically." He responded blatantly. I smacked his chest for saying something so lewd. I didn't need to know that, even if his witty response was funny. I smirked. He smirked. The smack echoed throughout the quiet room. His nipples got hard. I refused to allow my peripheral vision to coax my brain into making my eyes look at his body. I studied the familiar necklace on his neck instead. Since when did Sasuke start wearing a necklace?

**But what else turns him on…? Obviously he likes it rough…**

Shut _up_, inner. You never fail to piss me off. I spoke to get my mind off of Sasuke and everything that I could possibly do to make him crumble under the pressure of sex so he'd sleep with me because I _really _needed relief right now. That was a selfish, horrible thought that would ruin the friendship we'd somehow made.

"Well you're about to, because I'm not couching for the next week, no way." He studied my face, the wall behind me and the ceiling before his eyes fell on my face again.

"Fine just don't rape me in my sleep." He shrugged with no meaning behind his words. He didn't know how spot on he was, though… Sex and the need for it could make you think some crazy things… Anyway, I was glad that he really didn't care. There was nothing between us and we could safely joke about things like that. We were just friends. Good. He got the point. I got the point. Yay.

"It wouldn't be rape. You'd enjoy it." I snickered, because I loved tossing around my confidence. It felt great.

"Hah, all right, don't get ahead of yourself, Sakura." And with that sarcasm and a smirk he got up as I playfully stuck my tongue out at him again. I rolled over on his bed and went back to sleep because it was only nine in the morning and I still felt tired from last night. My feet still hurt. I got maybe ten more minutes of sleep before he was back in his room, shaking my shoulder. I threw both of his pillows at him one after the other before I was finally, fully awake. He managed dodged them both and I glared at him as he stood there with his arms crossed, his pillows at either side of him on the floor.

"My stomach is on fire, hurry up and heal it." He paused a minute and rolled his eyes. "Please." He added afterwards. Oh right, I had said I would. I rubbed my eyes with my palms and stood up, shamelessly stretching in front of him. His clothes were way more comfortable than Naruto's. Next time I needed improvised pajamas I would know who to go to. I walked up to him, trying hard to ignore how hot he looked, half naked in his fucking pajamas with that fucking "V" cut on his abs right above his waist band. I placed my glowing hands on his stomach, and started to level out the acidity with my chakra. I soothed the lining of his stomach as well, helped it build more mucus to protect itself from all the horrible, acidic foods he liked to eat. After I was done I yawned. I eyed his bed, but there was no way I'd fall asleep now. I was way too awake.

"We should eat. Are you hungry?" I asked, not even caring that my hair probably looked like shit. What did Sasuke care anyway? Regardless, I wanted a hair tie just to pull the mess of hair out of my face, but I knew better than to ask Sasuke for one. He most likely didn't have any. Speaking of which, how was I going to get clothes for this week? All I had was my dirt-stained dress from last night, my heels and Sasuke's spare clothes from when he was like, seventeen!

"Ah. I think I have some rice in the cabinet." He nodded.

"Any fish? Eggs? Meat? Protein?" I asked. He shrugged, looking at the ceiling to avoid my gaze for some reason. I frowned and walked past him, out of his room, and to his refrigerator. I opened the door. Ugh. No meat. Nothing. He had a jug of water that I remembered downing the rest of last night. It sat next to a single, lonely tomato... That poor tomato… it was there, all by itself in this bleak _wasteland_ Sasuke calls his fridge… I felt bad for it before I remembered how hungry I was. I almost slammed the doot shut in anger and walked over to his pantry. Damn my stupid teammates and their careless eating habits.

"What?" He asked behind me as I was trying to reach the bag of rice _way_ above my head.

"You…" I jumped. I couldn't reach the bag. "Ugh fuck— and Naruto…" I jumped again for the bag of rice, determined to reach it. "…both suck at taking care of yourselves!" I jumped with extra vigor and ended up almost falling into the shelves. Thankfully just then he made an exasperated sound, pulled me backwards by my—_his_, sorry by _his_ shirt, and allowed me to stumble into him safely before he reached up and grabbed the rice. Fucking stupid tall Uchiha, acting so cool… He handed it to me. I took it from him.

"Thank you." I spoke quickly and then rifled around his kitchen, opening several cabinets around his stove, looking for a pot or something to put the rice in. He watched me struggle in fascination. I suddenly stopped because I was starving and not in the mood to entertain him with my aggravation.

"You know, you _could_ direct me to a pot." I turned around and faced his blank expression. His eyes quickly looked over me and then he smirked and crossed his sexy toned arms across his chest. He closed his eyes and nodded, then opened them again and spoke.

"I _could_…" He began, and then shrugged. "But it's more entertaining watching you struggle." I glared at him and continued looking after turning around. Kiss my _ass_ Sasuke I won't fight with you because you want me to. He sighed. "Sakura, they're directly above the stove." He gave in quickly and supplied. I turned around and glowered at him. I couldn't even _reach _that cabinet's knob, let alone get the pot from it!

"Who puts their pots _above _the stove!?" I exclaimed, throwing my hand towards the cabinet the pot was supposedly in.

"Tall people do." He responded easily and opened the cabinet. He reached up and pulled down a perfect-sized metal pot and a blue lid that matched it. I took it from him and placed it on the stove.

"Do you have a measuring cup and some oil?" I asked, leaving most of the venom out of my tone. Food was only about a half hour away. Yes!

He nodded and finally moved his beautiful, lazy ass to go get me what I needed. Once I had the measuring cup, I measured out one cup of rice, one and a half cups of water and just a little bit of oil, dumped it all into the pot, and set the burner on the stove on "high". And now we wait. I leaned on his counter. He leaned on the counter opposite of me like he did yesterday. We stared at each other for a moment.

"I don't suppose you can pick my lock?" I asked with a cocked brow.

"I don't have the tools for it. You also have a modern lock from the best lock company. It'll never just get picked open." He commented. Oh, nice of him to notice I had a badass lock. I picked it out myself because I'm _intelligent_.

"Well, you need to get me clothes. Or get me someone who can get me clothes… preferably in secret… because I can't walk out like this and I need to tell the landlady that I need a new lock and key." I complained, while I tugged on the neck of the shirt he gave me. The high collar of it felt suffocating. I lowered the zipper to get it off of my neck and allow me a little more room to breathe. The shirt was good if you wanted to protect your neck from shuriken and knives, bad if you were Haruno Sakura and stuck in it while having a bad hair day at Uchiha Sasuke's apartment.

"I could get Ino." He suggested with a smirk.

"Are you crazy!" I snapped, my heart panicking at the _thought_ of Ino learning that I was stuck in Sasuke's apartment, wearing _his _clothes. He chuckled. Oh. It was a joke. I used my bare foot to nudge his hip for revenge. He swatted it away. "That wasn't funny." I glared. But if you thought about it, it actually was. Plus, Uchiha Sasuke had _actually_ found a sense of humor. He would never cease to amaze me.

"It was." He pointed out the truth, but moved on. "I could ask Naruto or Kakashi." He suggested because he trusted them.

"They're friends, but they're _too _close. We'll never live it down. We need someone… _unbiased_." I shot his idea down without remorse. Naruto would fucking announce to Konoha that we had fucked, when in reality we didn't. Imagine being Sasuke and telling Naruto that he needed help buying me clothes? Naruto would assume I was stuck in his apartment without clothes. Where do you think _that_ train of thought would lead him, virgin or not? Suddenly, Suddenly, Sasuke looked like he had an idea. It was a slight widening of his eyes, a tiny upturn of the corner of his mouth. I cocked an eyebrow, because I was curious to know what he was thinking.

"We can pay Tsunade to make a genin team do it. It would be a D-class mission. They won't be able to talk about it either." He shrugged and I loved the idea. It was perfect.

"Fine, I would give you money to do it upfront but… everything's in my apartment." I frowned. "I'm sorry. Do you want the money that I _do_ have on me?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. It was my fault I didn't notice your key fall out, anyway. It's fine."

By then, the water had boiled down to the same level of the rice, so I turned the burner down on "low" and covered the pot to dry the rice out.

"You don't have any video games." I mentioned. Because what am I going to do all day at _his_ apartment?

"No." He agreed.

"Books?" I asked, hoping Sasuke learned to like reading these past four years.

"Nothing you'd find interesting." He responded.

"Movies?" I questioned.

"No. I don't _live_ here." He explained and I knew what he meant. All busy shinobi were like that. We had a home but not _really_. "The cable works." He added. Ugh… TV was so boring.

"A deck of cards?" I asked, pulling at straws. He thought on that a second.

"…Maybe…" He then got up off of his counter, and disappeared into his room, closing the door behind him. I sat up on his countertop and swung my legs around, waiting for the rice to dry. I glared at the rice. Twenty minutes of drying time sucked when you had nothing to do. The clock from his living room became the new focus of my attention. Tick… tick… tick… tick…

Five minutes later Sasuke stepped out, dressed in his black nin pants and a blue zip-up Uchiha shirt with a high collar and a konoha hitai-ate on his forehead. The necklace I noticed before was in full display and his shirt front was zipped down just enough to see his collar bones and the beginnings of his pectorals. Kusanagi was at his back and his weapons pouch was on his right thigh. He had donned his usual black arm warmers. He padded over with a deck of cards in hand, just as I smiled and turned off the stove after checking the rice.

It was now noon. My stomach rumbled. He went into his cabinet and grabbed two, blue rice bowls and a red and white tea set. He fished out a box of expensive tea and started boiling water in a kettle as I scooped rice into the bowls and then dumped the leftover rice into a plastic container, stuffed it in his barren fridge and filled the used pot with soapy water. I left the pot in the sink to soak just as the kettle whistled. Sasuke poured green tea into our cups and pulled out two pairs of metal chopsticks from the drawer next to the stove. He handed me a set and we sat down to eat.

"Itadakimasu!" I exclaimed excitedly and dug into the rice. MMMMMMM! I needed food so bad! I smiled as the bland rice hit my tongue. Bland food was better than no food at all. I sipped on the hot tea and found it delicious as well. Sasuke was quietly eating across from me. We finished the small meal in silence.

"Help yourself to any entertainment you can find. Don't snoop in my room. I'm going to head to the tower and put in the mission request. Do you need anything from the market while I'm out?" He was direct and simple with his instructions, but I smirked at the question he had asked. If he was going to run errands, why not give him a long list of things to get for me?

"Can you tell Tsunade-sama that I'm giving you access to my office in the hospital via Shizune-san?" I asked him. He studied me with his beautiful eyes and nodded.

"Why?" He asked.

"I want you to get a few medical tomes and notebooks for me. I'll write them all down for you." I explained. He frowned but nodded and disappeared into his room. He came back with two clean, white sheets of paper and a pencil. I took them from him and began to write Tsunade-sama a letter, begging her to keep this all from Naruto and to push along the mission Sasuke was going to pay for as quickly as possible. I folded that paper up and signed it. Sasuke took I from me and put it in one of his pockets.

On the other sheet of paper I wrote a list of things for Sasuke to get for his no-man's-land refrigerator. And his empty pantry. I handed that folded paper to him and smirked.

"Have fun." My voice dripped with feigned sweetness, because somewhere deep inside I knew he would be miserable doing all of this. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Dinner had better be good for all of this." He waved the paper around for emphasis and I gave him a dazzling smile.

"If you want me to make anything specific just buy the right ingredients and I'll make it for us." I smiled genuinely, because, really I appreciated him being a good friend and a decent human being towards me. He nodded as he took the paper, went to his bathroom to brush his teeth and stepped out. Oh shit. That's right! I just remembered that _I_ needed toiletries too.

"Sasuke, wait." He stopped just as he neared the door. I held out my hand. He gave me my list back. I added "Toothbrush" onto the list of things I needed. Oh. And, "hairbrush". … and "Hair-tie." Sasuke read my revamped list and rolled his eyes. Wordlessly, he turned around.

"Ittekimasu." He called behind his shoulder as he left. I smiled warmly, because he probably hadn't said that phrase since he was little and had a family to leave when he went to school or out to play. The door shut behind him and I sighed. I was going to be bored so I might as well help clean and dust his apartment. I rifled around his supply closet and found things to shine and dust with so I got to work because I knew he'd be gone a while and because I owed him _something _for letting me stay here and entire week. For fun, I turned on the TV just to listen to commercials and see what was new and buzzing around in the civilian world. I found an awesome music channel and I ended up cleaning to the music they played on the TV.

I went over to his living room and dusted an empty cabinet with many, many empty drawers. It was obvious that Sasuke just put it there to fill the empty space in the large living room. I shook my head and peered curiously at a few pictures in stand-up frames he had set atop the empty cabinet. My heart clenched at the pictures and the fact that Sasuke was sentimental enough to even _have_ pictures in his apartment…

First, on the very left, was a picture of his brother. Just Itachi-san with a small, polite smile on his handsome face a Konoha hitai-ate on his forehead. Itachi-san had sharper, more mature features than Sasuke did at that age. Still, you couldn't deny that the two were related. Next to it, was a family picture of Sasuke, his mother, who he looked _just_ like, to my surprise, his father, who Itachi-san looked a lot like and of course, Itachi-san himself.

Next to that was a picture of just his mother and his father. They were smiling in the picture. They were happy. His mother was wearing an elaborate kimono and subtle makeup, his father had bright eyes and a happy grin. It was a wedding picture. Sasuke's mother was so beautiful and his father was a lucky guy and he knew it, at least in that picture he did.

At the far right, there was a picture of team seven. Of all of us when we were young. I blushed as I touched it. He had kept this picture? Or had someone kept it for him while he was away? I grinned at little Sasuke in the picture. He was such a punk. My team-seven picture was buried deep in some drawer in my room… should I put it on display too? I know Kakashi-sensei and Naruto kept theirs out… why did I hide mine if even Sasuke was willing to show his?

Next to that picture was a picture of Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi and Shikamaru and it was clear they were all drunk and got their picture taken at a photo-booth. Obiously Naruto's idea, when you looked at the shit-eating-grin he had on in the picture. Kakashi-sensei was hanging upside down like a drunken silver bat, Shikamaru was in mid-laugh pointing at Naruto on the other side of the picture, and Sasuke was in the middle, one forearm holding his entire weight up on Naruto's shoulder. He wasn't smiling, but I snickered anyway, because in the picture you could tell Sasuke was trying _really _hard to be serious. Obviously right before the picture was taken someone had said something incredibly stupid, probably Naruto. It was good to know that my boys were taking care of each other while I was gone.

The last picture broke my heart. It was an official team photo of Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi. Sai and I weren't there. They were all dressed in anbu gear, looking serious without their masks or cloaks on. They had done missions without me? I felt my heart crack just a little at that. I really had to stop running from my issues… I had missed so much of their lives. Did I really need four years to get over everything? Even if I _did_… I still felt bad for missing out. I turned to Itachi-san's picture, because for some reason it gave me comfort to pray to the dead, particularly Itachi-san. Maybe it was the teeny tiny barely noticeable smile he always wore in his pictures that soothed me…

"I promise I won't screw up that way again… I'll never avoid them again… I'm so sorry." I promised to anyone up there that was listening.

And with that, I went back to cleaning, the music softly playing in the background of Sasuke's apartment…

-X-

This was a short one because obviously, editing does _not_ go well for me when I have to edit almost twenty pages of work. I hope you guys enjoyed this. The next chapter will be Sasuke since most of you like reading Sasuke. I honestly like writing him better anyway I feel like it's easy to have fun with him as well as portray his personality. What did you guys think? This one was boring to me, but hey, it'll get better in the next chapter. Send me reviews! Reviews are _love_ according to DarkPetal16, a pretty awesome authoress if you wanna read some awesome fanfics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I make no money writing this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	12. My life as Uchiha Sasuke

KISEKI

|12|

Wow, I got so much love for the last two chapters. *hearts* I Love you guys. I really do! You have all made my rough week so much better and I'm eternally happy that you're all enjoying the story so far! I'm having such a blast writing this and I sincerely apologize for the little typos and syntax errors here and there! Also, if you guys want your minds blown go read about the legends of Susano'o, Amaterasu, Izanagi and Izanami. Everything in Naruto related to the Uchiha relates to these legends. It's amazing.

-X-

After I closed the door, I felt odd. There was a small warmth in my chest accompanied by a small ache as well. My own words surprised me in a pleasant way.

"_Ittekimasu." _I'm leaving. It was such a simple, but meaningful phrase. I never had anyone at home to leave; not since I was seven, so it made me feel odd saying it, but in a good way, I suppose... Damn Sakura. She did weird things to my head, though I couldn't fully blame her, I was letting her. I _wanted _her to make me think weird things. I was ready for it.

The first order of business was to talk to the hokage and pray the entire trip there that she was alone today. If Naruto got wind that Sakura was, for lack of a better term, "without clothes" in my apartment and I was there to get some for her, I would have one hell of a mess on my hands. I would also have to avoid getting skewered during this hopefully private meeting because the hokage would not like the idea of her student in my apartment without clothes, either. Afterwards, I would somehow have to fit every book Sakura asked for into my storage seals. Afterwards, I'd have to pay Nara a visit. Then I'd have to go _all the way to the market_ and buy all of this food Sakura requested. Why did I need so much food? If I needed to eat I could just _order_ something and have it delivered…_for both of us_. But I guess she just liked to cook, so whatever. It would keep her occupied and hopefully entertained so I'd buy the stupid food.

Fuck, I'm so boring. I really have _nothing _entertaining to do at my apartment. I sort of feel bad for Sakura. She was probably bored. On that note, I'm going to try get all this done _fast_ because nothing good could come from a bored Sakura. She was a medic and a doctor. A scientist. I shuddered at the thought of her running experiments on spiders or that tomato I was planning on eating later. Her pink hair and bright green eyes flashed across my mind right at that moment…

… Sakura was Sakura, not Orochimaru. She did things ethically. I saw first-hand how she operated at the hospital and I have to say I was impressed, so I doubt she'll be running experiments on my tomato. Speaking of seeing Sakura work firsthand, I should go see Yugao today too.

Before I knew it, I was knocking on the doors to the Hokage's office. My throat went a little dry; I hated being alone with the woman.

"Enter, Uchiha." The blonde grumbled; she must have sensed me coming. It wasn't like I was hiding my chakra, anyway. I entered, stiffly. For once, kami-sama was giving me a break: Naruto wasn't there. I shut the door behind me and bowed properly, remembering every bit of grace my father had in front of important personnel.

"What is it?" She seemed more relaxed now that she realized I wasn't going to be a disrespectful brat like I was when I first came back. It's amazing what four years can do to a person… I still remember the first time the hokage punched me. All I said was "hn" and refused to answer a question. I didn't see it coming. It was my fault I got punched anyway; she warned me that if I wasn't cooperative I'd suffer for it. I just didn't know she would be so direct with the "suffer" part.

I looked at my temporary roommate's teacher and wondered how sweet, innocent, easily-hurt Sakura could have ever handled being under the tutelage of someone so brutal and efficient. But then I realized what had happened during those three initial years of tutelage: Sakura had adopted a lot of this woman's behaviors and tailored them to suit her own personality. Makes sense. How else do you deal with someone so difficult? It's how I dealt with Orochimaru. Funny how Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya were once teammates, and Sakura, Naruto and I, their respective students, were teammates as well. Kami-sama obviously had a sense of humor.

"I have an urgent mission I need taken care of. I'm here as a client." I stated calmly. She narrowed her eyes, knowing something was up. You can't bullshit the godaime hokage. I almost sighed because I was dreading her temper. She laced her fingers and placed them under her chin. She studied me with a calculating gaze. _To snap at Sasuke, or not to snap at Sasuke? _I could practically see the question rolling around in her mind.

"Get to the point. I don't have all day." Yes. She chose to snap. I took a breath and quickly thought about how I was going to present to her my problem in a quick, efficient, yet reassuring way. This was _not_ easy.

"I need a gennin team to buy a week's worth of clothes all in your student's size, _discreetly_." I explained and she stood up so fast, her chair tipped over. Fuck. Not reassuring enough.

"Tsunade-sa—

Shizune, her assistant, poked her head through the other door, which lead to the archives, in concern. She must have heard the chair fall over and hit the floor. I was surprised I wasn't surrounded by a squadron of anbu already.

"Out." Tsunade hissed and Shizune was out, closing the door with a quiet hiss. I could feel the godaime's rage fill the atmosphere of her office. She was powerful, but I wasn't afraid. She couldn't kill or hurt me. I was strong, but I didn't doubt she'd give me a good challenge. "You have five seconds to start explaining what the _hell_ you did to my apprentice before I send one anbu unit to make sure she's okay and another to kill you simultaneously." She warned professionally. Good. I had time. I held up my hand in a peaceful way to settle her.

"I did nothing to her." I explained calmly. Most of her anger seemed to diffuse just then. She visibly relaxed. The atmosphere changed. "We just went out. Sakura lost her key and she's staying at my place while the landlady gets her a new lock and key. She needs clothes. I don't exactly think it would be appropriate if _I _went out to buy her underwear for her, wouldn't you agree?" I crossed my arms to make a point and the hokage picked up her chair and eased into it. She sighed and rubbed her temple.

"You didn't touch her?" It was a question. Why was this a question? I wouldn't open raw wounds like that. But then again, the hokage was a stubborn woman. It would take many more years of loyalty and trust-building for her to see that I wasn't a low-life anymore.

My face pinked anyway at the idea of actually _doing something_ with Sakura. Yes, I fucking _wanted to _last night, but I definitely didn't. And we had even slept next to each other. I should get an award, if anything.

"No." I replied calmly with an edge to my tone. "I'm not _that_ low." I added with offense in my tone. Seriously. If I wanted to mindlessly fuck Sakura that badly I could just convince her into doing it with me while we were _both _sober. I'd remember more details that way. I didn't need a night of getting her piss drunk to get into her pants anyway. I was damn good-looking and Sakura knew it whether she admitted it to my face anymore or not. Speaking of which, this reminds me that Yamanaka _is_ low enough to get her drunk and fuck her. Now, I know what you're thinking. This is perfect. I could just tell Sakura's intimidating, hokage-status mentor that Yamanaka is out to get a piece of her and then be on his merry way afterwards. Tsunade would certainly make it so that man would _never_ look at Sakura that way again. Yes it was all possible and within reach, but no. I'm not going to do that.

Before you get annoyed, remember that I'm above tattling and using people's emotions and attachments to make them act. That sort of thing was fucked up. I had that done to me. I will _not_ manipulate the godaime by telling her that there is a pervert out to get into Sakura's pants, even _if_ it would get Yamanaka off my back— and Sakura's— for good. I had plans for Yamanaka… don't you worry… Tsunade nodded at my response and straightened some papers out on her desk while she thought.

"I see why you looked relieved that I was alone." She commented calmly. And I had to wonder if I was comfortable enough to reveal that much to the hokage with just my expression. I suppose in a sense I was. Tsunade didn't like me, with good reason. I had done everything to Sakura that Orochimaru had done to her and _worse. _Granted, I came back and got my shit together, but that didn't just miraculously erase everything that transpired in the past. Thus, Senju Tsunade still disliked me to this day. She only put up with me because she was forgiving and she was only forgiving because Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura had been forgiving. Well… Sakura hadn't been forgiving. Not until recently, at least. But it was clear that Sakura's mentor was only civil with me because Naruto and I were technically family. Regardless of how she treated me however, I _still_ respected her. She had taken a lot of Orochimaru's shit and didn't let it get to her. That took a mental strength that you had to be my brother to have. So I respected her. My respect for the woman only grew over the years as well, simply because she was the only one who was able to school Naruto's natural idiotic tendencies and make a proper leader out of him. I nodded quietly in response to her words.

"Naruto would _assume_ things that aren't true..." I explained and she nodded in response.

"I'll write up a list and send a female gennin squad out today. Come back at three and pick the stuff up." She mentioned. "I'll keep this from Naruto for Sakura's sake, not yours."

I nodded again. "One more thing." I fished the note Sakura had written for her shisho out of my pocket. I handed it to the woman. She opened it and I watched her eyes scan the words. She smirked wryly at the note.

"That Sakura…" She spoke fondly. "I'll let you into her office, but you'll be under supervision by Shizune. Take only what's on this list and tell Sakura to report to the hospital at five-thirty am tomorrow morning." She instructed.

"Aa." I nodded. She eyed me before she pressed a tiny, yellow button on her desk.

"Sakura wrote to be gentle with you because you're on her good side…" She started in a low tone. I could practically _smell _the shit she was going to give me in a few seconds.

"…But if I ever find you on her bad side, and _she_ can't handle it… you _will_ suffer in ways you cannot imagine."

"I'm aware." I tried to sound bored because I didn't like threats. I didn't know how to deal with them. My body always wanted me to kill before I was killed. I didn't like being put in that state of mind.

I think Tsunade threatened me because she still saw her wayward teammate in me, which sucked because I was way above Orochimaru's level of "scum". I was Uchiha Sasuke, damn it; I still had my brother's image to live up to. I would not disappoint Itachi. That was my only goal in life at this point; to not disappoint my brother and everything he once was. And I only had that goal because I was Sasuke and I _needed_ a goal. I was fine as long as I had something to aim for. Anyway, despite giving myself a million reasons as to why I was being threatened not to hurt Sakura, I couldn't help but feel that Tsunade had motives other than motherly love for saying those words to me…

Shizune came in at just that moment, sparing me of the awkward staring.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama?" The dark-haired woman asked meekly as she stepped out with a folder in hand. Tsunade sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"I apologize for that earlier. Take Uchiha to Sakura's office. Help him grab what he needs to get. Don't mention anything about it to anyone." Tsunade instructed and Shizune gave me, then Tsunade a worried glance. It was clear that Sakura had become dear to both of these women if even Shizune, who had been more forgiving towards me, was worried.

"She's fine. She's just locked out. Lost her key. You know how she gets when she drinks." Tsunade waved off and Shizune's expression softened as she laughed and walked towards the door, mumbling a simple, "Hair, Tsunade-sama."

"One more thing." They both turned their attention to me when I spoke.

"I'd like permission to visit Yugao-san while at the hospital." I looked to both of them.

"Oh, her condition improved remarkably. She's leaving tomorrow morning. You can see her." Shizune cleared, but then gave a worried look to Tsunade, afraid she had spoken too soon. Tsunade shook her head and Shizune relaxed.

"Go, both of you. I have work." Tsunade waved her hand towards us as she picked up a file and opened it, taking in a deep, annoyed breath at the action.

"Please come with me, Sasuke-kun." I nodded and followed Shizune out. We walked side by side to the hospital. Shizune was easier to deal with than Tsunade. She was less distrusting and made me feel more at ease. Mission reports were always easier to give when she was in the room. In her own way, she presented herself like and elder sibling to everyone that needed one. Naruto and I were no exception. I remember the few times Tsunade needed to rest after the war and the paperwork was left to Naruto and Shizune. Dobe had actually convinced her to drag me into the office because I could replicate their signatures perfectly. In the end, she proved to be kind and trustworthy, but sharp and thorough. She made sure nothing was amiss after Naruto and I blasted through a week's worth of work in a day. Oh? Did I forget to mention we had used shadow clones too? Yeah, the rest of the week ran _beautifully_. Not a word was uttered about my presence there that day, either. That was when I realized that I could actually _trust _Shizune.

"It's nice of you to run errands for Sakura-chan." Shizune mentioned, but I noticed the sharp undertone in her kind voice. I smirked. Shizune was smart. She was able to deduce that I had been there when Sakura was drinking. She knew we went out. As in "together".

"Don't get the wrong idea." I replied, but it was bullshit because the "wrong idea" had actually turned into the "right idea" nearly overnight. I was starting to allow myself to like Sakura, even if she most likely would never trust me with her feelings again... _maybe_.

"You're no fun. Sakura-chan won't like you like _that_." She teased knowingly and I shook my head.

"Naruto was the one that set me and Sakura up, wasn't he?" I queried in regards to our living arrangement because Shizune would have been there when he cooked up the plan. She grinned as she waved at a passerby on the way through the hospital doors.

"Yes, he and Tsunade-sama did it. I'm sorry but I was told to keep it an S-level secret until you both found out." She apologized genuinely. "I assume their plotting worked, since Sakura-chan trusts you enough to stay with you for the week?" She queried in a slightly annoying chipper tone. I shrugged. Not really. Sakura insisted on going to Naruto's initially, even when she was wasted. I decided to shake my head in response.

"I don't think so. She still wanted to go to Naruto's." I added. "Even when she was wasted." I smirked remembering how she had demanded her shoes in the hallway so she could walk there. Sakura was stubborn, but obviously not nearly as stubborn as Tsunade. I had convinced her to stay, but that was only because my own will was practically immovable when I set my mind to it; drunk after a night of partying or not.

"Ah, that wouldn't have been a good idea." She began and I cocked my brow in curiosity. "It's a good thing you convinced her to stay with you." She spoke solemnly as we walked through the halls, nodding towards people we knew. I narrowed my eyes at that statement. Why exactly would it have been a bad idea to stay with Naruto? Was I missing something? I handed her the paper with all of Sakura's requests on it. She unfolded it just as the curiosity got to me.

"Why?" I asked, trying to keep the suspicion out of my tone. I felt like I didn't know something that I should know. I didn't like feeling like that for obvious reasons.

"Well, you know how Naruto-kun used to feel about Sakura-chan. It's just not healthy for him to be… _reminded_ I suppose." She shrugged and it made perfect sense. Sakura drove _me_ crazy last night. Really, she made me question my sanity. She was sexy and she was single. Naruto was in a serious relationship and he was in the process of trying to forget about his feelings for her, even if she'd always have a place in his big, stupid heart because she was the first person he loved. _Loved_.

Me? Me on the other hand? I didn't really have time for feelings, so I never nurtured any towards Sakura, not when we were kids and not even after the war. Not until maybe after I saw that she had moved in next door to me a week or so ago. Sakura… drunk and _sexy_ Sakura was dangerous to an emotional and sober Naruto. He would never cheat but she would hurt him. He would remember how she would never look at him that way and it would _suck_. I was safe from that kind of shittyness. Sort of. I wasn't easily hurt. My heart had a harder shell than Naruto's could ever even dream of making, so even if Sakura tortured me sexually and maybe even emotionally I would be able to handle it. Naruto? Tch, yeah right. Naruto would feel like _shit_ and overthink things for _days_. Maybe that voice in my head last night was right. That gut feeling was the one that told me I had to protect my brother from something. I was glad I listened to it.

However, Naruto's lingering feelings for Sakura were a mess that I knew would catch me one day… maybe not now, or not in the next year, but one day. Things that were buried tended to stick out of the ground and get rediscovered at one point or another. If you don't believe me look at Madara. He was definitely dead _now_, but the shitstorm he caused… it was because he couldn't and wouldn't stay fucking dead and buried the first time.

We reached a wooden door. On it, the little metal rectangle read Sakura's full name. I smirked at her title. "Dr. Haruno Sakura". It fit her. Secretly, I felt a small sense of pride. Sakura had worked hard and gotten incredibly far in life. I was an idiot to dismiss her potential, not that I could see anywhere past my own selfish nose back then, anyway.

Shizune slid her access card through the door and stepped inside. I followed her. She flicked on the lights. They were cold and fluorescent like the rest of the lights in the hospital, but the desk lamp looked like it gave off a warm light that Sakura would appreciate after a long shift. Sakura's desk was neat and tidy, as I expected. A small stack of files sat atop the large calendar on the lacquered wooden surface. Shizune grabbed them and walked over to a mini-library that lined the entire left wall of the office. Though, I was thoroughly impressed by Sakura's book stash, I chose to take in the details of the rest of her office while Shizune pulled out the tomes my pink-haired roommate had requested.

The floor was tiled and white like in the rest of the hospital, the drop ceiling was the same as in the rest of the hospital. Everything was uniform, structurally speaking. The only thing that stuck out in the room was the almost _badass_ leather chair at the desk. It was just a leather chair but it was big and looked comfortable to sit on. I smirked at it. Sakura _would _have an epic, leather chair. On the wall directly to my right was a small closet. It was closed so I had no idea what was behind it; and I wasn't about to snoop around and find out, regardless of my curiosity. Behind Sakura's desk was a large window halfway covered with white blinds. At the end of that wall was a tall plant. It was so dead it made _my_ skin feel dry and ashy. Sakura was a horrible gardener. Her eyes were obviously greener than her thumb. I smirked and decided I'd tease her about that later.

Shizune cleared her throat and my eyes flew to her. I had gotten lost in my thoughts. She was smiling at me. I shook my head and allowed her to stack the books and files onto my arm. I pumped chakra into the seal on my left armwarmer and everything on my arm disappeared in a puff of smoke. Great I was done here. The next destination was the Nara compound.

"You should get going." Shizune suggested as she handed me Sakura's list. I nodded, bowed respectfully, to which Shizune smiled and bowed back at, and existed Sakura's office, searching out Yugao's chakra as I sped through the halls. When Yugao called for me to enter her small hospital room, she looked miles better than the last time I saw her dying on a different hospital bed in the OR. I sat on the chair next to her bed. She politely tipped her head in greeting as I sat down.

"Sasuke." She greeted pleasantly. I nodded in response.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Good as new. Yourself?" She asked. She was never one to focus on herself much.

"Fine." Aside from my frustration with Sakura I was okay.

"Yamanaka pissed you off on the last mission, huh?" She suddenly interjected with a wry smirk. Oh. She had felt my killing intent. Oops. I shrugged nonchalantly. She shook her head.

"I'm not stupid, boy. Is that why he's shitting his brains out, according to the nurses?" I smirked back at her. Yugao was no idiot. If anything, she must have sensed me in the hospital when I broke in with Ino.

"He wanted to fuck you _and _my friend so I decided to get in his way." I shrugged. "Will you say anything about it?" Because if she decided to report me I should know now and start coming up with explanations as to _why_ I poisoned a Yamanaka with something I stole from the hospital… with another Yamanaka. She shook her head and crossed her arms.

"No, no. Let the asshole suffer." She waved her hand because she really didn't care. This is why we were friends.

"Which friend?" She asked and changed the subject.

"Sakura." I replied easily.

"Oh. I see. Nice of you to make amends."

I shrugged again. What could I say to that?

"Your brother would be proud." She mentioned quietly, but meaningfully. She knew the shit I had put Sakura through. She knew it would take a lot to fix everything.

"Thank you." To hear that my brother would be proud from someone who knew Itachi better than I did was reassuring. It told me I was succeeding at my goal, little by little. She gave me a small smile. I stood up and stuck my fist out. She shook her head and bumped her fist against mine, despite thinking it was a stupid way to greet or say goodbye to people.

"I'll see you around, Uchiha."

"Ja-ne." And I was out of there, shunshinning towards the Nara compound. I took to the rooftops eventually because it would cut time out of traveling there. I landed in front of the compound and entered. No one gave me odd looks here. The Nara were intelligent people. Furthermore, they trusted their clan head. And their clan head happened to be a good friend of mine. As a result they didn't treat me with contempt, only understanding. I nodded at a few people I had come to be acquainted with here. It wasn't long before I reached Shikamaru's house. I knocked on his door. It took him about fifteen minutes of me flashing my chakra in an annoying pattern to get him to open his door. When he did he looked like absolute shit. His clothes were rumpled and his ponytail was crooked on his head. He had bags under his eyes. I grimaced. One night out fucked him up_ that_ badly? Though I'm not one to talk; I comfortably slept in with Sakura till about eleven.

"You look like shit." I greeted.

"Fuck you." He replied lazily, and then yawned. "Want some tea while you're here?" He asked as I followed him in. Shikamaru didn't care about traditions so I left my shoes on. I was only going to be here briefly anyway.

"I won't be here long. I just needed to ask if you have a shogi board I can borrow." I explained as I followed him aimlessly through the wooden hallways of his traditionally-style house.

"Oh. That's it? You interrupted my nap for a shogi board?" He glared as he stopped in one hallway, next to a rice-paper door with a deer on it.

"Yes." I responded. He glowered at me through his saggy eyes.

"Whatever I'm up anyway let me get you the fucking board." He slid open the deer-door and I followed him into a sitting room. He walked up to a low wooden cabinet and slid open a drawer. I still couldn't believe he briefly thought about ditching me in his hallway to go back to sleep. Good thing I had made him wake up and come downstairs first. He pulled out a rectangular cardboard box. I sealed it into my armwarmer and clapped him on his shoulder so hard he visibly shook.

"Thanks." I smiled because this would help a lot. Nara yawned again.

"Yeah, whatever. Later, Sasuke." And I shunshinned away, letting him get back to sleep. Finding all of the food at the market was the easy part. The hard part was going into the general store and getting Sakura her stupid hairbrush. A toothbrush was easy to pick out for her. Mine was blue so I got her a baby pink one just to poke fun at her hair. And of course, because it initially reminded me of her hair. Next, I grabbed some hair ties and a brush and I noticed that I was getting some curious stares from a few civilian girls. I _really _hoped they'd keep their mouths shut. I didn't need my business spread everywhere. After I was done in that isle, I went to the register. The man who operated it was a former shinobi. You could just tell by the look in his grey eyes. He had seen some awful things. His hair was shaggy and dark and he greeted me with a glower. I placed the stuff I needed on the counter. He scanned everything without speaking to me. I paid him what I owed him. The tension in the air was palpable. I stored everything into my seal and turned around to escape the discomfort I felt. Just as I was about to step to leave he spoke.

"Uchiha." I stopped and turned around, knowing my eyes were as cold as his were.

"Do the world a favor. _Don't _reproduce." He insulted.

Fuck you. I don't plan on it. I said and did nothing. I left, feeling pretty shitty about myself. My name specifically lacked honor despite the fact that I helped Naruto save the shinobi world as we know it. That was something I forgot, but it wasn't something on the forefront of my mind every day. Who wanted to think about how bad they fucked up every day anyway? That wasn't normal. But the guy had sourly reminded me of my past mistakes. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and decided to walk to the tower to pick up Sakura's clothes. A group of gennin girls were waiting for me outside of the tower. One had dark brown hair tied up in a bun and violet eyes. She wore a deep purple tunic, yellow shorts, black sandals and a Konoha hitai ate on her forehead. The second one, in the middle had short, blonde hair and grey eyes. She wore a white hoodie and navy pants and sandals. Her hitai ate was on her neck. The third was confident, grinning from ear to ear. She had long, scarlet hair, red eyes and wore an outrageously patterned red and white kimono top and black shorts and boots. Definitely an Uzumaki by blood. She must be one of the ones that decided to move to Konoha after the war.

"Yo! You're the tall dark and broody guy hokage-sama told us about!" The redhead jumped from the top of the railing down to the bottom of the stairs about a foot in front of me, while the brunette rolled her violet eyes. The blonde blushed meekly and fidgeted with her sweater.

"Aa. That's me. You have what I need?" I asked. She grinned up at me and made a seal. To my surprise three square bundles wrapped in cardboard appeared in her hands. She had seals painted on her palms. She was advanced for her age group. I wondered if Naruto had met this cousin of his yet.

"Here." She lifted the bundles and I took them from her, sealing them into my armwarmer.

"Arigato. Which team are you and what's your name?" I asked.

"We're team ten. Uzumaki Ruri." She smiled. The bored one is Mimi and hoodie over there is Kimi-chan." She stuck her hand out. "Our families are friends, so shake my hand." She ordered in a friendly tone. I was not impressed that she knew who I was. True peace amongst the remaining Uchiha boy and the Uzumaki-Senju family was big news when it hit. I smirked and shook her hand.

"You should show Naruto what you can do. Maybe he'll agree to training with you." I advised and she looked surprised. Quickly, she bowed.

"Arigato, Uchiha-sama!" I smiled down at her red head. It was nice to meet people like Ruri. She reminded me of a more refined Naruto.

"Ja-ne." I nodded to her two friends. The "bored" brunette nodded back and the blonde hid behind her and smiled shyly. The brunette pushed off the blonde, lecturing her about confidence, just as I turned around and left.

I walked home at a regular pace. As if Kami-sama wanted to add more "bitter" to my bittersweet day, Yamanaka blocked my path about four blocks from my apartment complex. He was pale and a little ragged, but he was dressed in a white, civilian t-shirt and dark blue pants. His hitai ate was on his forehead. Apparently he finally stopped shitting himself. I gave him a cool look because he looked pissed.

"Nani?" I asked, because I wasn't in the mood for his shit and he was _definitely _wasting my time. What man wasted time when there was an attractive woman at his apartment? You tell me.

"Don't play stupid with me." He deadpanned. And I hated him for sounding like my brother. That grated on my nerves more than anything. Why was Itachi's voice coming out of the mouth of a shitbag like Yamanaka?

"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied and crossed my arms because he was starting to piss me off. If he thought I would openly admit to making him sick, he was wrong.

"You don't think it's a little funny that I somehow got sick the night before I was supposed to go out with _your _teammate?" He asked heatedly. Actually, yes, I thought it was fucking _hilarious._ I would laugh at it inwardly until the day I died. But outwardly, I shrugged, feigning indifference.

"If you believe I had anything to do with your illness you must be as superstitious as the others who dislike me." My brother's cunning words left my mouth. I wasn't ashamed that the words were lies. This man did not deserve the truth. Yamanaka narrowed his green eyes. He was _not_ happy.

"When I'm back at a hundred percent, I'll—

"You'll what? Kill me? Please try, you may make my day interesting, but I don't think Sakura would like that." I replied. "Oh, and by the way, we had fun. Thank you for that, Yamanaka." I mocked as I walked past him. He shot some killing intent at me that was pretty intense but I ignored it. He couldn't kill me. In a decent fight, I'd win. He couldn't poison me either, so he'd have to get creative if he wanted me to roll over and die without fighting for my life. I was undisturbed but a little unnerved the rest of the way to my apartment.

When I reached my floor, I was surprised to hear hard music playing from my apartment. All sort of instruments clashed and met in the tune to make an incredible sound that fit my mood just perfectly. Interesting. I listened from the hallway, my chakra hidden completely. I heard another song start. This song, reminded me of Sakura for some reason. It sounded witty and feminine. The lead singer was a woman. She was singing the song with a man. He admitted how she was always in his head, but he just didn't notice.

"_You're the tar~get, dead on the spo~ot… When I fo~cus I never Mi~ss… It starts with a kiss!"_ She sangand afterwards, he screamed like he was going insane and that fun but sardonic beat followed him. Well… doesn't that sound _familiar_?

That was about when I unlocked my door silently. I almost snickered at what I found in my living room. Sakura was dancing to the song, singing along to it, though the music was so loud I couldn't hear her voice. It was funny. Incredibly funny. She was singing into a duster. She moved just as well as she did last night, but… her hair was all fucked up and she was in my boxers and my shirt, twisting her hips and showing off her ass, completely unaware of my presence. I covered my mouth to avoid snickering and stood there, wondering when she'd notice. I watched her for a while, and decided that even sober, I _really _liked her ass and her legs. She bobbed her head and threw herself around to the rag-tag melody. Two and a half minutes later, she decided to spin at the end of the song. She screamed when she saw me standing against the living room wall and I lost my shit. I snorted as she turned off the tv and threw the remote at my head. I ducked and it hit the wall behind me with a crack. My snort turned into a chuckle and I listened to her panting either from exerting herself during her dance or from noticing me and panicking. My snort turned into a laugh and she became _angry. _

"SSSSSSAAAAAASSSSSSUUUUUKKKKKK_EEEEEEEE_!" *snap* That was the sound her temper must have just made. She exploded. But I was still laughing. She dove for the couch and chucked a blue and white pillow at me next. I moved to the side and dodged.

"How long were you standing there!" She fumed. I smirked. I wasn't going to tell her I was there for the whole performance; she might want to kill me. When she realized I was going to keep my mouth firmly shut, she lunged at me, grabbing another blue and white pillow from my couch. I thought I could handle her weight as she jumped on me but I failed to realize she had added chakra to her attack and I was helplessly thrown onto the dark living room carpet. The back of my head narrowly missed the wall behind me. She pinned my one wrist to the floor over my head and held the pillow at arm's length away from me. I held my forearm up in defense, ignoring the softness between her legs pressing into my abs.

"Tell me." She demanded.

"No." I replied, still smirking at her messy-haired dance, and her enticing parts rubbing against me. She hit me with the pillow, but I took that opportunity to jerk my hips, throw her off balance and roll her over. She used her chakra again and made me roll over _again_, so I kept the momentum going and rolled us one more time until we hit the bottom of the couch. I was on top of her and she had nowhere to go, but she was done being angry and now she was grinning, pillow still in hand even as I pinned her to the floor by both of her wrists.

"Okairi, Sasuke!" She greeted enthusiastically. I shook my head on the words she decided to use. "Welcome home." It was customary. It was just customary but my stupid head decided that in that moment, it meant more to me.

"Tadaima." _"I'm back." _Customary response. She interpreted it as that. I secretly wished she didn't.

"Jeez leave it to you to not even notice how clean your apartment is." She huffed and rolled her beautiful green eyes. I smirked. She was wrong. I _did_ notice.

"I noticed. Your concert was just way more entertaining to pay attention to." I replied. She glared at me and I climbed off of her because I felt like we were _almost _flirting and that made me slightly nervous, plus I was getting hard. I needed to _not_ do that. I helped her up. That was a mistake. She death-gripped my hand once she was standing and threw me into the couch so hard the whole thing almost fell over. Then, she decked me with both pillows. I was impressed. Smart move, Sakura. I'd have to get her back for that. I blew hair out of my face and threw the pillow back at her. Of course she caught it and aimed it back at me.

"Is that how you treat the container of your medical texts?" I queried snidely and she dropped the pillow immediately.

"You actually got them?" She sounded surprised.

"Yes, why? Was I not supposed to? You never mentioned that." I deadpanned as I stood up and straightened out my shirt.

She shrugged.

"No I thought Tsunade-sama wouldn't let anyone else in even if I asked. I guess my note worked." She replied.

"Speaking of your office your plant is very dead." I informed. She paled.

"I forgot all about it." She admittedin horror.

"Mn. It's drier than the Suna desert." I smirked.

"Shut up." She glared at me. But I didn't stop there. I had one more comment left in my arsenal in regards to her plant.

"I think your eyes are greener than your thumb." I let the pillow that she threw at me in retribution connect. It hit me square in the chest and she started laughing.

"My mom always said that." She commented.

I smirked. But then I remembered what Tsunade had told me to tell her.

"Tsunade wants you at the hospital tomorrow at 5:30 am." I walked over to the shiny kitchen table, leaving behind the mess in the living room. She _really _cleaned my apartment. My table smelled like wood cleaner. When the hell had I gotten wood cleaner for this place? When I first got it? I almost felt bad for walking around in it and messing it back up after she had _actually _dusted it. I saw her straighten the pillows in the living room and pick up the remote. She set it on the cabinet next to my pictures. I wonder if she looked at them and what she thought of them. The Uchiha crest on her back made my chest feel weird. I looked away.

"I hate the morning shift." She grumbled and walked into the kitchen area. I unsealed all of the groceries and she started putting everything away. Afterwards, I unsealed her brush, hair-ties and her toothbrush. She glared at me as she held up the toothbrush.

"Really, Sasuke? A four year old knows my favorite color is _red_. Why'd you get me pink?" She asked, annoyed and I smirked because she was assuming correctly: I got it just to peeve her.

"Because I knew it would annoy you." I added helpfully.

Her face fell. She shook her head, huffed and moved to go put the items away in the bathroom. I think I like seeing her mad. Something's wrong with me. Maybe I liked seeing her "mad" because I knew she wasn't _actually_ "mad". Who knows? I unsealed the shogi board next, let it on the kitchen table, and then went into the living room to unseal all of the books and files. I put them all atop the cabinet she had also dusted and shined. I smiled at the picture of my brother and walked towards my room. Sakura followed me. I opened the door and I noticed he crossed her arms.

"When did you clean?" She asked. I had made the bed that morning when I went to change while she was waiting for the rice to finish cooking.

"When I changed."

Her eyes flew to my over-stuffed hamper. She glared at the clothes.

"You still haven't gotten obaa-san he cupcakes?" She asked, annoyed. Huh? It took me a second to remember that she told me the old laundry lady likes cupcakes. I still wasn't planning on going back there to cause a scene. I frowned at the basket.

"We'll go together tomorrow night." She smiled when she spoke. I gave her a worried look.

"Oh stop it, it'll be fine." I shrugged and walked over to my bed. I unsealed the bundles of wrapped clothes.

"Everything the gennin bought is there. Change into some training clothes. It's about time we had our spar." And with that I turned around, leaving her alone in my room as I closed the door behind me.

"Taijutsu only!" She called through the door. "I still have to make dinner after!"

I smiled to myself. Taijutsu and dinner. I shook my head. Four years ago if you told me I was pleased at the idea of sparring with Sakura and eating her dinner afterwards I'd have called you crazy. Now? Now I think _I'm_ the crazy one.

-X-

YAAAAAAYYY! A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SASUKE! What did you guys think? Next chapter will be from Sakura's point of view! Anyway, I decided to cut this chapter a little short and end it here because I will be a bit busy this weekend. Birthdays and work and whatnot. As always, *hearts* I love you guys, please review and let me know what you think, in detail! I'm always curious to know! I love reading opinions!

BY the way the song Sasuke caught Sakura dancing to was Ricochet by Shiny Toy Guys

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. No money is made from writing this. None!

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	13. Taijutsu and Cupcakes

KISEKI

|13|

Soooo much research went into this chapter. So much. I cannot tell you how many videos and demonstrations I looked up for so many different hand-to hand combat styles. I looked up _so_ many Naruto fight AMV's just to see each character use their taijutsu. This chapter was more or less a _bitch_ to write. It was a bitch to edit too because for like a week I was actually _scared_ to look at it; thinking I had somehow screwed it up.

Anyway, I happen to think I suck at writing fight scenes, so I figured I'd put more effort into it this time around and be specific with the movements. Naruto works so much different from Yu Yu Hakusho, which is what I'm used to writing. The mechanics of the characters are so different, their movements are so much more human and limited, so I had to work really hard at toning everything down too and keeping things simple, but exciting.

Not to mention, I hate writing Sakura, (officially) because she sort of puts me in a somber mood. In any case, I hope I wrote everything just right for you guys. Again, please let me know whether it's good or bad. I'm so happy that so many of you favorited and followed me and this story. *hearts* This one is for you guys!

-X-

Sasuke didn't answer me when I called, so I just assumed he agreed to my terms. I started to grin in excitement. I had a surprise in store for him… but it would have to wait until we reached the training field. I ignored the odd feeling of changing in someone else's room as I undressed and un-wrapped the first bundle of clothes my temporary roommate had bought for me. It was filled with underwear. I picked out a black thong and a tight, black bandeau for my breasts. The second bundle was filled with red tunics, of which I picked one and threw on and the third was filled with black, tight-fitting tactical pants and a pair of boot-sandals, which I eagerly slipped on over my legs. The pants had built-in kunai pouches and to my delight there was a small storage seal that I assumed housed weapons and a basic medical pack— no doubt something Tsunade threw in for me. It must have been expensive… _ouch_. Somewhere in Konoha Village Bank's vault, my account was cringing _already_. Poor Sasuke. No, nevermind Sasuke. He'd get his money back. Poor me. Poor, poor Sakura.

My hitai-ate was still in my apartment so I'd just have to deal without it until the landlady changes my lock. I pushed a little chakra into the storage seal. More storage seals popped out. I pushed a little more and *poof* just as I'd expected, kunai, tactical wire, shuriken, and a medical kit popped out. I organized my pouches the way I wanted, and placed the medical kit on my left, lower-back.

I contemplated leaving my new undies out just to peeve Sasuke in revenge for the pink toothbrush he bought me, but I decided to be nice instead. I re-wrapped the bundles and stacked them atop each other at the end of his bed. Then I folded the clothes he had given me and stacked them atop the bundles. I looked around his room and smiled. It was neat and organized— aside from the laundry pile. I was glad I didn't have to clean up after him like I had to whenever I stayed with Naruto. I stepped out of his room, my hair still a wild mess. Sasuke was having tea in his living room, watching some civilian drama. He looked up at me briefly and studied my outfit. I noticed how his eyes lingered on the weapons pouch on my right leg. I smiled—because he was already planning ahead for our spar— and walked into the bathroom to tie up my hair. I would need it out of my way for this fight. Sasuke was quick, after all. I had no doubt in my mind that he was sneaky too. I liked how long my hair had gotten and I simply didn't want it to get in my way.

I clicked the door shut and stared in the mirror. I was shocked. My hair was _awful_. No wonder Sasuke had laughed at me earlier. I looked like a poor, disheveled imitation of Karin without the glasses _or_ boobs, not to insult her or anything— she _had_ become a respectable tokubetsu jounin and helped me with my sensory skills— but her hair was a little strange. I ripped the brush through my pink strands and smiled once it was neat again. I had a better idea than just a simple ponytail. Quickly, I French-braided my hair and tied the end of the braid tightly A few strands of hair fell out, framing my face where my bangs were, but whatever, it would do. I brushed my teeth, splashed some cold water into my face, gave myself a determined look and a nod and stepped out.

Sasuke noticed me but placed his crossed feet on top of the couch anyway. He looked insistent on finishing his tea before we left, so I went into the fridge to grab a banana. I scarfed it down and noticed a lonely little tea cup on the counter, cooling down rapidly. I grabbed the cup of delicious tea with a smile because it was just _thoughtful_ of Sasuke to make me tea, and then placed myself at the other end of his couch, just beneath his raised legs, as if we had never had any bad blood in our history.

I watched the show for a few minutes as I sipped, tucking my legs sideways on the couch, and leaning on the arm. I smirked because I was surprised that Sasuke didn't say anything about shoes on his couch. I supposed he didn't mind much because they were brand new. Anyway, the show was about a civilian woman dating a ninja in another world. There was war and she was constantly worried. Not to mention pregnant. I rolled my eyes. Not that that wasn't a serious situation, it was just overdone. I had read that same plot issue in many books already.

"What?" Sasuke had noticed my quiet exasperation. He sounded curious so I smirked.

"Her situation is cliché." I plainly stated, then looked over at him. He nodded quietly in agreement. We went back to watching. Oh! What's this? Her boyfriend's best friend was into her! Whoa! He just confessed! Her hand flew to her stomach—

*click* Black screen.

Sasuke had turned the tv off. Confused, I looked to him.

"Cliché." He labeled the show and stood. I smiled, drinking down the rest of my tea. We ditched our empty tea cups in the sink and left his apartment. He locked the door behind him.

"So I guess when we get back I'll bake cupcakes." I started, because he _really_ needed his laundry done.

"I have no supplies for that." He replied stoically. Classic "Sasuke" response. I grinned because it brought back memories of the stick he had up his ass when we were younger.

"We're limiting ourselves to taijutsu, Sasuke. We can stop at the store afterwards; it not like we'll be so beat we won't be able to move." I reasoned. I was planning on giving him hell on my day off the day after tomorrow, anyway. _That _was going to be the night that we would probably spend lying on the grass completely unable to do anything but rest and complain about aches and pains.

"Hn." He seemed agreeable. Good. I smiled to myself as I thought about bringing Naruto in on our training sessions. I mean, it's not like Naruto needed to maximize every ounce of chakra he had, being the powerhouse of energy that he is, but it would be nice to just train together again… maybe with Kakashi-sensei too. Sort of like a team reunion.

"You're smiling." Sasuke noticed. Sasuke_ always_ noticed the little things nowadays, huh? What was with him? If I was quietly smiling to myself eight years ago he wouldn't have given a rat's ass if you told him about it. Interesting.

"Yes that's what people do when they have pleasant thoughts or feelings. I thought you knew this already." I grinned, because I wasn't going to get cheesy and sentimental around him so he could shoot my idea down. Screw that. He gave me a dejected look and I smirked at him.

"I meant to ask why…" He clarified, a little bit of annoyance peppering his tone. I shrugged. Well, screw it, if I was going to plan a team reunion he'd have to be forced into it anyway. Might as well tell him my idea consequences be damned.

"I was thinking about eventually training with Kakashi-sensei and Naruto too. All four of us… and Sai if he's not busy…" I shrugged. "They'd like it." I added nonchalantly because if he shot my idea down, _fuck_ him. I would train with the rest of my boys anyway.

"Aa. They would." Sasuke just agreed. He didn't accept or reject the idea. I chanced a glance in his direction. He was staring ahead, lost in thought. When had he become so… _neutral_? I had never known him to be this relaxed. It was an interesting side of him to see. We were on a busy street, so I should have been prepared for what happened next, but… I wasn't. I'm an idiot.

"Wh-Whoaaaaaaah!" A young man's voice.

*crash!* A smaller body knocked into me, from the side, knocking me into Sasuke, who was quick enough to cradle me as we all hit the dirt road beneath us. And just like that, there I was with Uchiha Sasuke's stupid, sexy, _hard_ abs rubbing against my face, my breasts pressing against something that was _also_ growing hard _quite _rapidly. I took in his scent as his arms wrapped around my head and torso. He smelled so clean and so _Sasuke_. I blushed because… fuck me, my teammate is sexy and I can't just ignore that.

"Ouch…" groaned a familiar voice. "Moegiiii…." The same boy whined. My temper snapped. Sasuke, sensing it, held me tighter to his chest before I could _rip_ Konohamaru a new asshole. Unfortunately, this made my chest rub up against his, um, well his _penis_ a little bit and he froze in place, probably _just _noticing right now. Lovely.

"Aw shit! Sakura-nee! Sasuke-nii! Gomen!" I felt Konohamaru's hands push off my thigh and my leg was free. Sasuke's arms slackened almost _nervously _as I pushed myself free of him, hoping my face wasn't as pink as my hair because kami-sama damn well gave him a _gift_ down there! You'd be embarrassed too! My eyes caught his face. He wasn't looking at me. He was focusing on an invisible spot somewhere on an eel stand nearby. His cheeks were slightly red. _Fuck_. Awkwaaaaard. I snapped my angry attention to Konohamaru and stood, helping Sasuke up by the collar of his shirt in the process because I needed to be violent towards _something_. Sasuke didn't seem to mind as he uncurled my fingers from his shirt. I fisted my hands at my sides and looked the boy up and down. Konohamaru had a nasty bruise on the side of his face. I placed my hands on my hips and glared at the Sarutobi, ignoring the fact that cutely, he had gotten a bit taller since the last time I saw him. He gave me a goofy, guilty smile. I narrowed my eyes.

"What did you do _this_ time?" I asked because I _knew_ he pissed Moegi off. She had already roughed him up so there was no reason for me to do so. He laughed sheepishly in response.

"Heh heh… well… it's more of what I said, rather than I did…Sakura-nee…"

"Konahamaruuuu!" Oh. That sounded like a pissed-off Moegi. Well, I might as well let him get a head start. I rolled my eyes. He smiled, realizing I wasn't going to grill him for knocking me down.

"Ja-ne!" He ran off. I shook my head at his retreating back. His scarf was a little shorter around his neck now and Moegi, who shot us an apologetic look as she ran past us, seemed to have grown into a beauty. Her dark eyes were large and cat-like and her hair had grown long and calmed into long, orange waves. She was wearing a pale yellow nin-skirt, with black, form-fitting nin pants beneath and a regular, grey v-neck, similar to mine. She bounded after him, chakra pumping into her legs.

"I swear those two are going to get married one day..." I grumbled to myself aloud, crossing my arms, my anger deflated.

"Because they argue?" Sasuke asked and my head whipped over to him. I honestly completely forgot he was there. I fucking _blushed _at the sound of his voice, too, _damn_ my good memory. I couldn't shake the feeling of his toned body against my torso, so I shook my head instead as I watched him dust off his clothes.

"Well yeah… They're really cute, no?." I focused on Moegi and Konohamaru, just to _not_ focus on Sasuke's…_enticing _parts.

_**But you know he'd be a great ride…**_

Shut up, inner.

_**He's perfect though… He's not too big either… let's just… **_**fuck**_** him, why not? He's a man, he has needs too… **_

Shut. The fuck. Up.

There was silence in my head. _Finally_. Sasuke was waving his hand in my face. I knocked it away, narrowing my eyes in frustration.

"What?" I queried, more annoyed at myself than him.

He glared at me. "Stop spacing out."

"Sorry. What did you say that I missed?" I asked, feeling bad about being slightly bitchy towards him. He studied my face, debating on whether or not he should repeat himself. He decided that he would.

"I thought the glasses-kid liked her." He grumped, ashamed that he had partaken in gossip. I laughed at him because he looked awkward.

"Oh you mean Udon?" I asked. Sasuke's face twisted in disgust.

"Whose idea was it to name him _that_?" He asked incredulously and I shrugged. Sasuke gripped his forehead in distress, threading his fingers through his thick bangs. The hitai-ate on his forehead shifted a little. I smiled at the fact that he wore it almost proudly.

"I'm not surprised she doesn't notice him…" He mumbled and I laughed out loud. He stuck his hands back in his pockets and we continued walking.

"If I remember correctly, Udon idolizes you. Maybe you should pay him a visit and give him a few pointers." I grinned, because I would _love_ to see Sasuke giving a boy advice on women. It would be _hilarious_.

"Hn. If he has female issues it's not _my_ business." Sasuke replied, but I didn't miss the small spark in his eyes that clued me into his mischief. He probably _would _go help Udon have a fighting chance, there's just no way in hell he'd let me in on it. I smiled at the ground beneath my feet. When had Sasuke started to care about others? I'd have to go see Naruto soon… or maybe Shikamaru. Yeah Shikamaru was the better choice. He'd tell me exactly what happened to make stubborn Sasuke change so much. I noticed people giving us odd looks as we passed by, and some sandy-haired middle-aged man who had given Sasuke a discreet nod. I saw Sasuke nod back, almost unperceptively. The man smiled after Sasuke nodded at him. Was that a friend of his? Whatever, we continued on our way and somehow made it to the peaceful seclusion of training ground three. I smiled at the beat-up wooden posts Naruto had gotten himself caught in when we were younger. I could almost see me and Sasuke sitting next to him, debating on how to beat Kakashi-sensei's test. My eyes mildly watered at the memory... that's where it all started.

I stopped myself from crying. I missed those days, but at the same time, I should have been stronger back then. I should have sought extra help, if Kakashi-sensei wasn't going to help me out-right after that stupid mission in Wave country when I thought Sasuke had died. I was so vapid. I was such a stupid, vapid girl. Naruto was in trouble during that mission and all I had given a shit about was Sasuke being dead. If I had half a fucking mind I could have healed him and gone to help Naruto. I shook my head. If I had been stronger and wiser I could have stopped that bullshit in the forest of Death. I could have made a bigger impact on the lives of my boys…

"Hn. Dobe." Sasuke fondly smirked. I turned to look at him in surprise. But of _course_ he'd have better memories. He wasn't as weak and useless as I was when we were young. I felt myself get angry. I wasn't mad at Sasuke or Naruto or even Kakashi-sensei, I was just mad at myself. I blamed everything on myself. If I had just been keener, fought harder, sought extra help all those times I stayed at home and brushed my _stupid_ hair because "Sasuke-kun" didn't want to train with me… I could have prevented literally _everything_. Nothing could excuse how badly I had my head in my ass as a kid. Nothing but more training. That being thought, I abruptly eased into my fighting stance.

Sasuke— alert as ever— tensed and jumped away, a hand hovering over his kunai pouch on his thigh. I smirked. He had good reflexes, as I expected. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Let's do this." I smirked. I needed to try to fuck something up_ now_. I hated memories. Anyway, Tsunade-sama had taught me three different taijutsu styles. The first was her very own style. It was designed to usurp Orochimaru's taijutsu style, making me and Sasuke almost _natural _enemies. If I'm correct— which I undoubtedly am—, Sasuke's familiar with the Uchiha style, which, thanks to some information from Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, I was able to deduce is a bunch of short, quick, successive movements that had a lot of power and strength behind them. Now— also thanks to Naruto's big mouth—I was sure that Sasuke had his own taijutsu style based on his own instincts. Naruto said it reminded him somewhat of Bee's breakdancing. I remembered the fight I saw up on the hospital roof too. Sasuke was flexible and could think quickly in a tight spot. Thus, I was prepared and knew he'd be using deadly combinations of all three of those styles.

Me? I'd be using a deadly combination of Tsunade's brawler style, my own style, which consisted of a lot of evasive dodging, and precise, quick strikes and Lee's fluid, almost whip-like Kirigakure style that required a lot of quick, flexible movements, much like Sasuke's but more tailored for my body— I'd be eternally grateful to both him and Gai-sensei for helping me train. Shinobi were flexible— I had actually seen _a lot_ of flexible men, but kunoichi were always more flexible and that was what Gai and Lee helped me focus on. Kunoichi bodies were just designed to be more flexible. We were contortionists without really actually being contortionists. I'd be giving Sasuke an amazing run for his money today.

Sasuke took his opening stance. His body was tense, slightly side-faced, arms slightly raised. He was starting in Orochimaru's style, directly opposite of my Tsunade-style. Heh. Big mistake.

"Ground rules first, Sakura." He called in an authoritative tone. I liked his voice tense and guarded like that. It was sexy, but I decided not to really focus on that thought. I replied to him instead in a steady, collected tone.

"No genjutsu, ninjutsu or chakra. Just taijutsu and one kunai." I announced. "You can use the kunai whenever you feel. You don't have to start with it." I added across the six foot gap between us. Sasuke nodded, but I didn't give him time to relax.

"Start!" I called and we launched at each other. Sasuke threw a straight, precise fist at my face, which I countered with a circular, windmill movement, courtesy of my shisho. I knocked his fist away, simultaneously grabbed his wrist, pulled him to the side of my body and struck at his neck with the side of my hand. He threw himself into the direction I was already throwing him in, and used both of his hands to flip his body away and simultaneously wriggle free of my gasp. I immediately turned to face him with just enough time to block a drop kick. I spun on my heel to deflect the force of his blow, throwing him to the side again. He struck like a poisonous snake, again and again always aiming for my vital points: kidneys, liver, ribs, lungs, stomach, solar plexus, and throat. I deflected each and every strike as we danced around each other, eternally at a standstill, like Orochimaru and Tsunade always were. I flew around him in circular motions, trying to get at his face. Annoyingly, he pulled back, like a coiled viper. My fist was always just an inch short of his body. That pissed me off. I shouted as I aimed to knee him in the chest. He blocked with his shin and we were at a standstill again. Instinct would have to take over from this point.

Sasuke switched styles at the exact same time that I did. I hated how our minds seemed to just click in battlefield scenarios. I threw a fist at his face, which he grabbed and held. He threw a fist at my face, so I grabbed and held his wrist. He held me firmly, I held him firmly. I could tell he desperately wanted to use his lightning style, but clearly held back. I was thankful; because if this was an actual fight, there would be little I could do to block the lightning that would undoubtedly come from his open palm, so close to my face. We were both balanced and locked on one leg. I was the first to launch myself off of that leg and aim it at his temple with my free hand. He twisted his neck and dodged my attack, then used my weight and inertia against me to push me away from him. After we were free of each other, he fell back a few paces to give us distance, but I was back on him instantly, like an ant army at a picnic.

He spun away from me, using his heels and soon enough we were back-to-back elbowing each other from behind. I back-kicked at his Achilles tendon and dove forward into a roll. He jumped to evade my last attack and spun around mid-air, bounding after me as soon as his feet hit the grass.

I just about sprung up from my roll, but decided against standing and went right back to rolling as Sasuke cart-wheeled, trying to strike me with his heels and palms as I was on the ground. I would _not_ let him make a Sakura pancake today, so I used my hands to push myself far into the air. He jumped up to meet me, of course. We tackled, trying to fight each other in mid-air, got stuck on each other again, and then pushed ourselves away with plentiful force, sliding backwards on our heels as soon as we hit the ground. I was breathing hard. Sasuke was _fast_… _really fast_. Even without the usage of his chakra. For a guy he was _quick_ and that was exhilarating to me.

Naruto had more muscle tone so he was slower, but he made up for it in his attacks. They packed a _punch_. Sasuke… Uchiha Sasuke was _different_. I found a challenge in him, only because the way his body moved was so similar to my own. It was almost like fighting myself, in a way. I was fast, but he was just, _faster_ and I didn't know how that was possible, considering that I was smaller and lighter than him. I looked over at him. He was breathing just as hard, if not, harder. It must be incredibly difficult for him to move his body at that speed without chakra. If I strained my eyesight I could see little beads of sweat forming at his temple. At least I was giving him a good workout. He lunged at me when he noticed me picking him apart with my eyes. And he decided to use his Uchiha style.

Fuck. This style was dangerous. Only because he would be able to take a hit from me but land five on me at the same time that he took that small damage I gave. He looked dangerous coming at me, fists, feet, elbows and knees flying everywhere, his body moving at sharp angles. I would be a fucking liar if I didn't admit that I was getting turned on just watching him move. I used Lee's style to fluidly evade _everything. _I wasn't _stupid_. I wouldn't hit him, not while he was using this style. I would have to use a combination of styles if I wanted to punch him and get away with it.

Actually… why not do something I learned from Naruto? I looked over his shoulder and widened my eyes in fear. He stopped, obviously high off of adrenaline and turned to look at what had "scared" me, mid-punch. It was clear that he didn't forget this was a spar. This wasn't as serious to him as it was to me. That's why I was able to use dirty tricks. That's why he fell for those dirty tricks. Now, before you preach about honor and nobility, let me remind you that being a ninja is all about trickery. If you could confuse your opponent, you were golden. So I did.

I got him.

WHAM!

My fist connected to his beautiful face and he flew backwards, skidding across the ground. He was up in a second, hand at his face, glaring at me, venomously.

"That was dirty!" He hissed in his baritone, obviously pissed. His sharingan was spinning. I was freakishly elated that I pissed him off enough for him to activate it. This wasn't normal.

"That was a Naruto-style move." I grinned triumphantly. "Besides, you deserved it for leaving me on a bench. I haven't chewed you out about that for eight years; I think it's about time I did." I stuck my tongue out and his eyes widened, and his anger faded. He smirked and his eyes bled back to black.

"I already apologized for that." He reminded me of last night. Yes, in fact, he _did _apologize, but that didn't mean it made things right. Me punching him? _That_ made things right. I don't know why.

"And now that you got what you deserve, I accept your apology and forgive you." I smiled. "Shall we continue? No more Naruto-tricks, I promise." I held up my hand in a show of over-exaggerated honor.

"Aa. Good acting, by the way." I was surprised he complemented me, but he said no more and threw himself towards me again. By this point it was clear that he realized his Uchiha style was his best weapon against me, so I decided to start using those combination moves I was talking about before. I struck like Tsunade, but dodged fluidly like Lee, and sometimes acted completely on instinct like myself, when the time was right. I managed to tag Sasuke in irrelevant spots like his shoulders and thighs, but we both knew that if I was using my chakra enhanced strength he'd have broken bones. Several times his eyes had widened when I managed to touch him. He wasn't an idiot. He knew it would've hurt _bad_ if I was fighting for real. Anyway, it's not like he didn't get a chance to hit me back for all the times I hit him, either. Sasuke was strong for his deceptive speed. If you weren't observant or at all familiar with him, you would think he relied mainly on speed to get you, not power. But that wasn't true. His hits _hurt_. My thighs and shoulders were _aching._ He grabbed my arm at one point to throw me to the side, which he succeeded in, and I was sure that I would have bruises there later. My point was that he was fast _and_ strong and an unknowing enemy would have his ass handed to him because it was practically _inhuman_ to be _that _quick and _that _powerful the way Sasuke was without his chakra.

Regardless, I didn't mind him being rough. He was treating me like Naruto never could: like an equal. He knew I was dangerous and thus he treated me like I was. It was actually a relief, because we were both able to push ourselves to our limits. Somehow, we ended up running to the side, bringing ourselves closer to the trees that surrounded the training grounds. I just noticed that we had been fighting for a while and that we had avoided the wooden posts completely. I didn't know if that was my doing or if Sasuke realized that I'd rather not be reminded of our genin days and decided to move away from the posts during our spar…

Anyway, it wasn't long before we were shoving and dodging each other at close-range again. I pulled at his shirt; he tried to palm my chin. I dodged, he grabbed my sleeve. We held each other by our clothes for some reason as we kicked at each other. I pulled my kunai out, just as he was about to throw me again, and cut my sleeve off. At that moment, he was still holding onto the sleeve and was pulling me by it with the intention to throw me with so much force that his arm flailed away when the fabric was suddenly detached from me. His coal eyes widened in surprise as he tore the rest of the fabric away.

I took that as my opportunity to jab him in the stomach. His muscles tensed on instinct for the hit because he realized it was going to connect a little too late and I _rocked_ his abs. He flew backwards into a tree. I flew forward with my kunai and aimed it at his face. Lightning fast, he pulled his kunai out just in time, and blocked mine with his. Sparks flew off of the blades as they connected. We ignored them. His eyes were narrowed and determined. Sasuke did _not_ like surprises. He raised his fist to jab me in the ribs. I countered it with another circular motion and pinned his wrist to the rough bark of the tree. He smirked down at me. I was pressed up against him on an angle. I prayed he wouldn't notice the tiny tree root beneath my right foot that _could_ possibly imbalance me. Our wrists started shaking. The blades that were connected started to make ugly grating sounds. I could hear the metal of my kunai being dulled by his.

"You ruined the shirt I paid for." He commented off-handedly and somehow, his dark eyes almost _sensually _trailed down my exposed shoulder and arm. Or rather, he studied me so intently his gaze _felt _sensual... like it was last night. My heart rate quickened. I used extra strength to shove our deadlocked kunai closer to his nose. He shook his head.

"Do you really think I'm oblivious, Sakura?" He smirked.

Fuck. What?

And just like that, the outside of his foot connected sharply with the inside of mine. My ankle buckled atop the uneven tree root and I had to shift all of my weight onto my other leg to not stumble and fall like a fool. I was planning on jumping away, but Sasuke had caught my left arm and threw me to the soft ground. I tried to use my arm to maybe flip myself away as I was falling, instead of just letting myself eat grass, but Sasuke caught my now pulsating right ankle and pulled me back towards him before I could throw myself into another evasive roll. My plan to not eat grass completely failed as he stepped forward and open-palmed my shoulder. I fell to the ground with a soft exhale of the wind that was knocked out of my lungs. All of that happened so fast and in mid-air that my head was almost spinning. However, I wasn't done yet. Sasuke moved to jump on top of me but I rolled over despite being completely winded and stood to my feet, my muscles begging for oxygen. I took a few breaths as I somersaulted backwards into the forest, kunai in front of me on instinct. When my eyes were able to calmly scan my surroundings, I noticed that Sasuke had disappeared. Fuck.

Hide. It was ingrained into me after years in the field. Fucking hide so hard you camouflage yourself into the scenery.

So I did. Only now, I was paranoid. My back was to the tree I was leaning against. The setting sun was casting long shadows on the forest floor. I tried very hard to sense Sasuke, diminishing my own chakra as low as I could. I could never push it as far away as Karin could, because I relied on it too much, but I could certainly try my damnest, especially now. I couldn't sense him. Where the _hell_ is he? A soft, wraith-like rush of wind above me alerted me to his presence. I leapt forward as Sasuke landed in the spot I was in before at the base of the tree. I somehow managed to be fast enough to turn around and point my kunai at him. He smirked as he rose to his full height from his crouched position in the tall grass.

"What gave me away?" He asked, his broad shoulders rising and falling so slightly and perfectly in time with his breathing. Apparently, he had trained with Karin at some point before she started hating him as well because it was hard to be undetectable from that close range. I smirked in response to him.

"Nothing in particular." I chirped. Technically, it was his clothes that made the barest of sounds as he dove down towards me, but I wasn't about to tell him that. Next thing you know he'd get competitive and take his shirt off.

He narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"When your opponent is paranoid they pay attention to the smallest things." I murmured cryptically. He darted forward again, pure determination in his body language and this time we battled with our kunai. I tried to elbow him as he tried to kick me. Nothing worked for either of us. We were both exceptionally good. I was secretly pleased that I had gotten so much better over the years. Our blades connected several times before we jumped back, after another tight deadlock.

I took a chance and threw my kunai right at him. He realized he wouldn't dodge it in time. He threw his to counter it. Both weapons connected with a distinct metal-on-metal sound and flew in opposite directions, his just barely missing my face, mine just barely missing his. We were both getting tired. I could hear his soft breaths and I'm sure he could hear mine.

The sun had gone down and the sky was a dark periwinkle color. Sasuke looked up at the stars that were starting to peek out. I looked at a firefly that zipped by. We were both still tense, but Sasuke stepped out of his fighting position and held out two fingers, a neutral expression on his now-bruised face. I widened my eyes at his actions. He still remembered that academy thing where you locked fingers as a sign of friendship after a spar? I smiled. I stepped forward and grabbed his two fingers with mine. His fingers curled around mine and we truced for now.

"It won't be the same next time we spar." He deadpanned. I nodded, understandingly. Yes next time I would fight like a demon from hell and kick his ass. Today was really just for kicks and for something to do and maybe, in a way, it was for us to get to know each other better as well. At least, that's what I think he was trying to tell me through his attacks. I was blatantly trying to tell him that I was not one to be fucked with and that I had obviously changed. He was just trying to understand how exactly I had changed. It was an interesting, albeit obviously silent conversation but I was satisfied with the communication. I had never really communicated with Sasuke in our youth. I was kind of glad now that we had become friends. He was definitely a good listener. He was still the same old attitude-y Sasuke, but somewhere during these four years he had become accepting and, to some degree, understanding.

"Yes, it will be much more interesting with ninjutsu and genjutsu involved." I agreed. He let go and I raised my hand up to his face. He tensed for just a second, but he relaxed once he saw the green of my healing chakra. I healed the bruise on his face, hovering my hand just centimeters from his cheek. I won't lie, some helpless, shameful part of me wanted to touch his face and see what happened, but I squished it mercilessly. Fuck _no _I wasn't going to even let myself _think_ about him that way. It was over. It had _been _over long ago between us. Actually, if you really thought about it, it had never even begun between us, so why did I still stupidly have thoughts and urges like that?

_**Because you actually love him, stupid**_.

We've been over this. There's no way I could love him. It's just sexual attraction, remember? He never showed an ounce of kindness to me, aside from that one "thank you". We never even talked. I never _really_ knew or understood him. He never cared about me that way, either. So why would I love someone who couldn't care less about me? I was obviously just attracted to his pretty face. He was always a selfish asshole.

_**Riiiight… so all those times he protected you on missions were—**_

A hindrance, Inner. He prevented me from getting stronger. He should have let my dumb ass get a beating or two. I would have gotten the point quicker that way. We would have probably become friends that way because I would have realized how serious this life actually is and I would have forgotten all about my dumb feelings for him because I would have freaking realized that they would have gotten me killed. I should have been stronger; I should have realized that I needed to find someone to help me as best as they cou—

"Do you always heal injuries you specifically inflict?" He crossed his arms and spoke in a snarky tone, interrupting my disturbing thoughts. I looked up at him. His eyes, so dark and sexy amidst the silvery glow of the full moon only fueled more disturbing thoughts about him and his damn handsomeness. I smirked to cover up my inner insanity.

**Sasuke's hot.**

Well, we shouldn't think about that. Sasuke's a friend. A _friend_.

**But what if Sasuke thinks we're hot?**

He doesn't.

**Liar. He's a man. He does. You think he doesn't notice us? You know he notices. Stop being blind on purpose.**

...

**Fuck him, already!**

_No_. Shut up.

"Only for friends, Sasuke." I replied because it was the honest truth. I didn't heal enemies, not until they were properly chained up first.

"Hn." His face was now healed so I pulled my hand away.

"Let's get to the store." I tipped my head towards the training ground and the village that obviously lay beyond it.

"Mn." He nodded and we walked out of the woods, past the nostalgic training posts and back to the residential area of Konoha. I contemplated on his Uchiha taijutsu style, because Inner had finally shut her mouth, and wondered if there was any style that would be able to directly combat it. Maybe Tsunade-sama remembered what her grandfather had taught her? Maybe she could teach it to me? I decided to file that idea away for the next time I was in the hokage tower, or the next time Tsunade-sama needed a break to train and get some exercise. I'm sure there's plenty more she had left to teach me…

Again, we got strange looks as we walked through the busier streets of town. A lot of civilians glared at Sasuke after they saw my torn shirt. Did they think he was an abusive boyfriend? I probably looked like a civilian with my innocent pink hair and lack of hitai-ate. I looked over at him. He was focusing his attention straight ahead, ignoring the stares, as usual. He looked slightly annoyed, though that was only because I could see behind his neutral mask. Hah, he could tell what they were thinking too.

I smiled, despite the looks we were getting. For some reason I just couldn't see Sasuke being an awful significant other. If he didn't like someone he'd probably just leave. He seemed _passive _nowadays; I doubt he'd even waste his anger on an annoying girlfriend. I almost shrugged to myself and reminded myself to just look away. He'd catch me staring if I stared and that would be awkward to explain. We moved on through the bustling market and entered the grocery store. Some civilian girls our age buying ice cream started to whisper about us… well, specifically about _me_. You didn't have to be a ninja to hear what they were saying.

"_Ew who is she?" _

"_Look at her pink hair, how awful…" _

"_Wait, she's hokage-sama's apprentice isn't she?" _

"_So? What's she doing with Uchiha-kun?" _

"_Maybe she' special to him?" _

"_That monstrosity? Yeah right? How could he be attracted to her? She looks like she's not even from a prominent family." _

I ignored it. They hadn't been through the war. They had no idea what Naruto, Sasuke and I had been through. Sasuke lightly shoved me into an aisle, just as we rounded a corner, out of the sights of the gossiping girls.

"What the _hell _was that for?" I hissed. I almost fell into the shelf, too! _That _would have been _so_ embarrassing! He shrugged.

"You were spacing out." He accused.

I _so _wasn't. He knew I wasn't. So what the fuck? I decided not to read into his actions. They were extremely complicated as is. If I started to dissect his motives for everything I would go crazier than I already am. Still miffed, I walked towards the baking isle, Sasuke right alongside me, looking as bored as ever. I smiled. A small tray of four cupcakes would be enough. Kumiko-obaa could give some away to her grandchildren. I turned around, and swung past Sasuke who watched me maneuver around in the aisle. I grabbed a large, silver bowl, a whisk, some pre-made batter and a tube of icing and a small tube of rainbow sprinkles. I placed everything inside the silver bowl. I should have brought a basket.

Mercifully, Sasuke took some of the items out of the bowl for me. It's not that it was heavy to carry, of course. Pfft! I could pick up trees with one _hand_ a bowl full of stuff was nothing. I was more worried about some of the items falling out. With less in the bowl, I wouldn't have to worry as much. I smiled up at Sasuke as thanks. He nodded and we moved to the register. I recognized the girl at the register. Her name was Aya. She had a shock of white hair and bright, teal eyes. Her skin was exotically tanned. She had her hair up today, her bangs lazily hanging to the side in soft waves. She smiled at me.

"Sakura-san!" She exclaimed.

"Aya-san, it's good to see you!" I grinned.

"Eh, you never told me you had a boyfriend!" She looked at and mildly pointed at Sasuke, who I _refused _to turn towards in such an embarrassing situation. Calmly, I shook my head in response, even though my inner was smirking smugly at me somewhere in the back of my mind.

"Sasuke is just a friend, Aya, please." I begged her softly with my eyes and she blushed, waving her hands frantically as a result.

"A-ah! Gomen! I didn't mean to insinuate anything!" She looked up at Sasuke for forgiveness and must have gotten none out of him. "I-I just thought— well— you're buying _baking _supplies and—

I laughed to interrupt her red-faced rambling. Sheepishly, she laughed along with me and started to scan the items.

"It's been a while since I've last seen you, Sakura-san! How is the hospital?" She changed topics to settle the awkward conversation. I was glad to talk about the hospital. It was always my comfort zone.

"It's doing well! I have a shift there tomorrow; maybe we can meet up for lunch, if you're not busy." I invited, because I genuinely _liked_ Aya. She was fun to hang out with and she never pestered me if I was out on missions for a while.

"Ah, I wish I could, but it's my mother's birthday tomorrow! We're having a small family get-together for her. Speaking of mothers! I heard yours is pregnant! Is it going to be a boy or a girl!?" Aya excitedly asked. I blushed at the thought of becoming a big sister so late in life.

"Ah… well... I don't know. I chose not to be involved. Shizune has my mom's case. It would just be a little weird, being my mother's doctor, and all." I shrugged, but it really was awkward. Imagine having to deliver your own sibling? Ugh…

"Oh, I see, so they're keeping it a surprise, huh?"

"Yeah, I won't get to know until he or she arrives." I smiled.

"Will you teach them how to be a ninja?" She asked.

I laughed. Like my mom would _let_ me.

"I think after me my mother wants a _normal_ child." And Aya burst into laughter. I grinned and chuckled with her.

"You gave her quite some trouble, didn't you?" She smiled, her teal eyes glittering under her thick, white lashes.

"All the time." I agreed, remembering the missions where I'd come home bloodied and beat up. Sometimes I ended up passing out just outside the house. That was about when I decided to get my own place. My mother just couldn't handle seeing me that way. My father's heart was starting to get bad, too. He would get angry, wanting to beat up whoever had hurt his "little girl".

"Ah, it's going to be twenty-three gold, Sakura-san." Aya mentioned. Sasuke was already pulling out his wallet. Right, I forgot I wasn't paying for this. That was an odd sensation… But fuck _me_,I'm going to owe Sasuke _so_ much money after this week. Some part of me freaked out as I remembered that. I winced as I saw them exchange money… that was another twenty-three gold tacked onto my unofficial "tab". I'm surprised Sasuke hasn't said anything about money yet…

"Ah, arigato-Uchiha-sama!" Aya smiled as Sasuke handed her a fifty-gold bill. I grimaced at the bill. Fucking Sasuke. He _would_ carry around fifty and hundred-gold bills just _because_.

"Hn." Of course; how else would he respond?

She gave him his change and he stowed it away neatly into his wallet, shoving the coins and receipt in his pocket. I didn't miss how he took both bags off of the counter as well.

"Ja-ne." He drawled and started to walk away, assuming I'd follow. Aya pulled me towards her by my torn shirt when his back turned. For a civilian she was sneaky, and surprisingly strong.

"Not your boyfriend, huh? Yet he just paid for _all_ of _your _baking supplies…" She spoke slyly into my ear and then winked at me. I blushed, _fuck_. Okay, _yes_ Sasuke was doing "boyfriend-esque" things but I _swear _that was only because he _had_ to! Ugh, I could never explain the situation to Aya fully and Sasuke was almost to the exit. Damn him! The girl laughed at my rosy cheeks as I awkwardly shook my head in weak argument to her words, waved a silent goodbye and caught up to Sasuke just as he exited. Silently, we made our way back to the apartment complex, my face as pink as my hair. What the hell was _with_ everyone and embarrassing me today! Was today national "Embarrass Sakura" day? Firs Konohamaru and now Aya… kami-sama, I just want a break!

"Let me carry a bag." I spoke because Sasuke was carrying three and I needed to get my mind off of the idea of everyone assuming that he was my boyfriend. Ugh that was an awful thought to even remind myself I was thinking. It didn't help that I had found out _completely_ on accident that he was um, well-endowed down there too. Fuck Konahamaru and fuck Aya. The two of them were horrible. Oh, and fuck Inner too for her lewd thoughts and suggestions.

_**Oh and fuck Sasuke too. Just fuck him. You'll get him out of your system that way. **_

SHUT. UP.

Insensitively, she gave me a rated-R image of what Sasuke would look like on top of me…naked… and turned on… _Great_ Inner, that was _not _helpful. Eternally, fuck you.

Somehow I had managed to calm my swirling mind down. Sasuke spoke, and honestly, his voice somehow grounded me. I think it played on how my mind always wanted to pay attention to what he was saying.

"Here." He held up the lightest bag and I took it from him without argument. Normally, if it were Naruto with me, I would argue and end up carrying _all_ of the bags in a show of my own machismo but this was Sasuke and my thoughts were scrambled so I just kept my mouth shut. Eventually, I realized we were climbing the steps of the complex. We were on our floor. I looked longingly at my stained door and wondered if the landlady was at the management office. She would _not_ like how bleached-out the wood of the door was in certain spots… I grimaced.

"Sasuke." He stopped just as he opened the door to his apartment and looked at me. I held the bag out to him. "I'm going to go see the landlady before she goes home." He nodded in understanding and took the bag away from me. His fingers were warm as they nonchalantly brushed against mine.

"I'll leave the door unlocked." He informed and stepped inside. I turned around mechanically and bounded down the stairs. The landlady's office was on the first floor. I found it and knocked twice.

"Enter!" Came a voice from inside. I stepped inside and smiled at the fifty-year-old woman. She had long, black hair with a few grey strands and still-dazzling navy eyes. She smiled at me, wearing an apron over her brown dress. Her hair was up in a neat bun, not a single hair out of place.

"Ah, Haruno-chan!" She smiled at me. "Is everything all right?" She asked as I stepped inside the basic office filled with a desk, phone, lamp, some cabinets and several chairs all in an earthy beige-green-brown-black color scheme. I nodded.

"Yes, Tanzuka-san, I just lost my key. I'm going to need a new lock. I'll pay for it, of course, I'm just locked out." I blushed and the elderly woman shook her head.

"You shinobi kids." She stepped away from the cabinet she was standing at and sat at her desk. She pulled out a drawer and filled out a paper.

"It'll be about five days before they come to install the new lock." Tanzuka-san explained

"I know." I replied. "I'm sorry; it fell out of my purse." I apologized.

"Do you have a place to go in the meantime?" She queried in her aged voice as she filled more stuff out on the paper.

"Yes. My teammate lives next door so I'm staying with him." I gave away too much information. Her head snapped up and she studied me with fierce eyes. I cocked a brow. I could take care of myself. Did she think Sasuke was dangerous? After studying me, she went back down to filling out the paper without another word. She made a big "x" where I had to sign at the bottom.

"The fees will be added to your rent with a receipt at the end of the month. Sign there that you agree to those terms." She sternly explained. I read through the terms quickly, agreed to them and signed the paper. I placed the pen back down on the desk.

"You be careful, now." She warned.

"Um… right…" I replied awkwardly. "Thanks again, and I'm sorry for the irresponsibility." I apologized honestly. She shook her head.

"I've dealt with much worse throughout the years, child." She explained and I nodded, bowed and left the office, a frown on my face. I knew the village had mixed feelings about Sasuke. I knew there were people that respected him and people that were wary of him. It just pained me to think that if it weren't for Naruto he would have pretty much nowhere to live, if even Tanzuka-san, the nicest and most shinobi-friendly renter in the village was wary of him. I glared at the floor on my slow trip back up to my shared floor with Sasuke. He had been through so much over the years and I could tell he was trying really hard to settle back into life in Konoha. It just wasn't fair that people were still giving him shit four years after the war. In my mind, only I, Naruto, Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-sensei and to an extent, Sai were allowed to give Sasuke well-deserved shit. I mean, I wasn't _surprised_ that the villagers gave him shit, of course, I just wasn't happy about it. Sasuke was one of _my_ boys and _no one _hurt _my _boys without getting a beating for it. I was pissed that I couldn't really do anything about it right this moment. I sighed as I opened his door to find that he was already mixing the batter, focusing his sight on the box on the counter.

I was so pissed off five seconds ago and the sight of Sasuke _baking _with an adorable spot of chocolate batter on his cheek threw me into a fit of giggles. Sasuke growled and hissed my name in warning as he snapped his head towards me. I laughed more as I took my shoes off and walked towards him.

"You— you're so funny, you know that?" I laughed again because Uchiha _Sasuke_ the self-proclaimed "avenger" was fucking _baking _like my mother on Saturday afternoons.

"Shut up and help. I don't know if I'm doing this right." He glowered at me. Snickering quietly, I went over, washed my hands at the sink, which was free of the tea cups we left behind earlier— courtesy of Sasuke's neat tendencies— and looked at the bowl and the delicate, green whisk in his masculine hand. The batter was still chunky; he had to mix more.

"Have you been following the instructions on the back this whole time?" I asked and he nodded, quietly waiting for my verdict. "Then you should be good. Just mix the batter more. There's nothing really to it. Mix it until it's smooth and not so chunky." I explained. He nodded again and continued mixing, this time putting more effort into it.

"I'm… gonna go shower really quick…" I decided because I could see the muscles of his arm flex beneath his skin and it was fucking sexy… and distracting… not to mention that his kitchen smelled like chocolate, too.

"What?" He turned and looked at me, confused. Shit. Why did he have to question everything? Just let me go shower you stupid sexy jerk!

"You're doing good." I held my hands up and unconsciously took a step back. "When I get out I'll make dinner…" I supplied, keeping my voice even and fluid. He studied me with his impossibly dark, ethereal eyes and finally nodded. Robotically, I turned and walked towards the open door of his room to grab my improvised pajamas. I glanced at him as I walked to the bathroom. He was still diligently mixing, ignoring me or completely unaware that I was shamelessly looking at him. I gave his back and the Uchiha fan on it a tiny smile as I closed the bathroom door behind me and took off my sweaty, ragged clothes. I frowned at the cut shirt sleeve as I pulled the red tunic off. Ah well, whatever. Tomorrow I was going to be stuck at the hospital most of the day so I wouldn't ruin the clothes Sasuke had paid for with his money. I slapped my palm against my forehead. _Uuuuuugh! _I owed Sasuke _money_. I hated owing _anyone _money. It was probably because I was my shisho's student and my shisho owed nearly _everyone _money. I rolled my eyes. As soon as I was back in my apartment I'd get my wallet and take a trip to the bank with him. I sighed, taking the hair tie out of the end of my braid. I let my hair loose and shook it out.

I smiled. Overall, I had a good spar with Sasuke today. In a couple of days we'd be using ninjutsu and genjutsu too. _That _was going to be fun. I'd get to test out all the things I had learned and developed these last four years in a _legitimate _fight. I took off my pants and clenched my fists at my sides. I would have to kick his ass around _good_. But I was also worried he'd win and be fucking _smug_ about it, because even though Sasuke had changed a lot, he was _still_ Sasuke and Sasuke was a smug bastard when he bested you at anything. He always was, even when we were kids. He loved to gloat and goad Naruto once we were all in a team together. I turned on the water of the shower. The steam filled the bathroom and I realized how fucking turned on I was. Ugh, I'd have to take care of this _before_ I did something stupid tonight.

-X-

When I stepped out in my pajamas, carrying my dirty clothes, Sasuke was sitting on his counter, glaring at his stove. The little light was on inside the stove and I could see the cupcakes were coming along nicely. He had already cleaned the counter and placed the dishes in the sink. He still had batter dotting his cheeks, hair and forearms. I chuckled as I walked past him to place my clothes on top of the laundry pile in his room. Once that was done I walked up to stand next to him and watch the cupcakes.

"They're taking forever." He complained once I arrived, but I knew he was just whining because he had never made cupcakes before and he didn't want to screw up. Leave it to Sasuke to take something as simple as baking so seriously.

I chuckled and put a confident hand on my hip. My sexual frustration was staved off for now and I was confident in myself around him once again. "So go shower." I easily responded and wiped off the batter from his cheek. I placed my finger in my mouth and sucked off the chocolate. He blushed and touched his other cheek, finally noticing how dirty he had gotten. He glared at the chocolate on his finger.

"Fuck." He cursed and went to wipe the batter on his pants. I grabbed his wrist, stopped him and wiped the batter off of his finger onto mine. I licked again. Mmmmmm chocolate. I smiled. It was tasty, but of course Sasuke had a habit of disliking everything good in the world. Yep. Only Sasuke would detest sweets. Only him.

"Don't waste batter." I chastised. "It's tasty." I reasoned as I walked over to the fridge and opened it up to see what I could make us for dinner.

"It's unhealthy." He shot back and I heard him slide off of his counter.

"So is ramen and overdosing on tomatoes." I replied just as confidently.

"Hn." I could _feel_ him roll his eyes as I started pulling out ingredients to make dinner with.

"Before you go, could you get me a cutting board, and a pan, please? I'm making stir fry tonight." I spoke, still fishing around in the stuffed refrigerator. I smiled because he had gotten _everything _on the list, whether he liked it personally or not.

"Aa." I heard him open the annoying cabinet way above the stove. He pulled out a deep pan and a cutting board just as I stood to place the meat and veggies on the counter closest to me. He placed the pan and board on the counter next to the icing and sprinkles, and walked over to his kitchen drawer. He pulled out a sharp-looking cutting knife and a wooden spoon. He placed both gently down on the counter.

"Arigato." I called over my shoulder as he walked away. "How many more minutes for the cupcakes?" I asked.

"Ten." He replied as he made his way over to his room and then to the bathroom I just vacated. I smiled and got to work cutting the vegetables first.

-X-

GAH! I can't get over how unintentionally cute Sasuke and Sakura are together! Please review? Reviews make me happy! How about that Inner? I love Inner Sakura. Naturally, in this fic, since Sakura became comfortable being her inner self that she was as a girl, this Sakura's Inner is different. She's a little more open about her sexuality and femininity, whereas Sakura herself outwardly is not. Sakura's Inner becoming more vocal is also a sign of Sakura becoming more and more um… insane I guess? Who knows. Whatever.

Pretty pleeeeeease give me feedback!?

Disclaimer: I don't own _shit_. I don't make money writing this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	14. The more you know

KISEKI

|14|

YAAAAAY! BACK TO SASUKE'S POV! I would have never thought Sasuke's POV would turn into my comfort zone but it somehow did! Thank you so kindly for those who left detailed reviews and for those of you that reviewed at all! I'm so happy to hear from you guys! You people have no idea how much reviews actually help motivate me to keep writing this!

-X-

I stood under the hot water for the longest time, just thinking. I had finished washing minutes ago. I turned the heat up on the water so it relaxed my tense muscles. I melted under the added heat. It felt wonderful. Sparring with Sakura was enlightening and exhilarating at the same time. She was a different opponent than I was used to versing. Until recently, only Lee was able to match and surpass my speed in regards to taijutsu. Sakura must have trained with him at some point because she had resorted to using his Kirigakure style several times. Even though it was only taijutsu, she had pleasantly surprised me by giving me a decent workout today. She was determined and dangerous. Those two adjectives were mercilessly attractive when they were tacked onto her. She had changed so much in so many ways; but I wasn't disappointed. In-case you're wondering, yes, I had already jacked off. Don't think I forgot that her breasts had rubbed against my dick earlier today, no thanks to that Konohamaru brat.

I smacked my forehead, trying not to remember how soft they felt on such a sensitive part of my body. When she fell into me, I honestly just wanted to prevent her from hitting the ground... I didn't really _think _about what I was doing, I just acted on instinct. I wasn't expecting us to land… like _that_; no. Kami-sama damn it! Sakura, Sakura _Sakura_! My world had blurred into a myriad of pink, green and red this last week. It would continue to be that way for another week unless one of us got a mission. I sighed, frustrated again. I didn't know how to handle her, or us or whatever we had between us right now. I didn't know how to handle myself with her. That was the problem. How to behave around Sakura? That was the question.

Everything was organized simply in my mind. I know what I want from her. I know that what I feel for her isn't…_temporary_… like it is with the other women I have been attracted to in the past. She's different from the rest; she's important and in a sense, special. In fact, if I think about it, she always has been that way; I was just always blind to it. I've realized that I don't just look at her body; I look at _her_ and it's clear to me that she sees _me_ for exactly _who_ I am as well. The attraction I have to her isn't just aesthetic. She's intelligent, kind, caring, strong, fun and slightly insane. That works. It's what I want in a woman. There's just a few problems….

One… I can't believe I'm saying this, but… I really _shouldn't _reproduce. Why tie myself down to one person when I don't plan on having children? That's _insane_. It would just breed more problems, stress and emotional issues. No one said I was sane to begin-with, but I digress. Relationships lead to marriage and marriage obviously leads to children. And I really shouldn't have children. Not only do I not understand children I don't believe I have the patience for them. And if they grow to be fuck-ups like me… I don't know what I'll do. Sakura is the type of woman who _deserves_ a loving husband. She _deserves _someone that can give her a happy ending to the story of her life. Why the _fuck_ would I tie her down and take away from her everything a grown woman would want?

Two. Sakura hates me for shitting all over…well, all over her _life. _I'm sure she forgave me because she's forgiving but a person doesn't just magically forget and trust you again after you've nearly killed them, their loved ones, promised to obliterate their home, pushed them away from you, made them feel insignificant and left them on a bench after you rejected their heart-felt feelings, even though that one's probably behind us now that she decked me for it...

Three. I think Sakura's over her feelings for me. Actually, she's clearly and _pristinely_ over her feelings for me. Either she realized it's not _worth _loving me, or she realized that her feelings for someone like me were a danger to someone like her and she dropped them cold. We obviously have a history, even if it's a small one, but she won't dare set foot on that history. Actually, she avoids it like the plague. Obviously she wants to move past that. I got the point from her today during our spar. She's changed. She doesn't like me and she doesn't want me to _think_ she likes me. Remotely. At all. She friend-zoned me like that dork in that drama at Naruto's house a couple years ago. There's no coming back from that, apparently. Also, according to that bartender, Sakura isn't looking for a long-term relationship— for whatever mysterious reason that may be— so obviously it's clear that yes, she's attracted to me because she likes what she sees, but by no means will she ever want me like _that_.

Those are some _big_ problems. But of course, I'm Uchiha Sasuke… my brain doesn't take "no" for an answer. It doesn't accept "it just won't work out for you" as a valid reason to _not_ do something. The only thing keeping me at bay is the fact that I might actually _hurt _or even _upset_ Sakura more by showing her that I want to be with her. Bottom line, I need some good fucking advice, and Kakashi, because he's the father-figure in my life, is going to help me. I would have to seek him out tomorrow before I go insane with frustration. I turned off the water and stepped out to dry myself off. I pulled on my navy pajama pants and grabbed my dirty clothes. I ran the towel through my hair and hung it on the rack next to Sakura's red one— hah, funny how _my_ red towel became _her _red towel so effortlessly— before I stepped out to the mouth-watering smell of stir fry. My stomach audibly grumbled and Sakura turned her head to look at me, eyes wide. My face was hot again and she laughed at me, turning back around to mix whatever delicious things she was mixing in that pan. I moved stealthily and quickly to my room, dropped my clothes atop hers on the large pile of dirty laundry— fucking blushed _again_ because I caught sight of a promiscuous black thong!— and stepped out. Sakura had already finished the cupcakes. The cupcake tray was in the sink and she had put the icing and the sprinkles away. I grimaced at my sink. I never had so many dishes to do in my entire life. Sakura's laughter interrupted my thoughts.

"I'll do the dishes if you want, Sasuke." She offered. Since when the fuck do I show my thoughts on my face? She _must_ have deduced my distaste of dish-washing from my expression.

"You cooked." I argued and crossed my arms. She's just spending the week at my apartment; by no means is she my indentured servant while she's here. She shrugged.

"I clean up after myself all the time. I'm a big girl, Sasuke." She gently argued back and again I loved the way my name sounded in her voice. It rolled off of her tongue like she had said it a thousand times before, which I'm sure in our youth she _had_.

"I'll do them." It was my no-nonsense tone. She shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

"If you have a change of heart last-minute I'll understand. Please set the table." She replied professionally. I rolled my eyes as I pulled out dishes and utensils. She had a pot of rice cooking next to the stir fry too. I shook my head to myself as I placed the dishes and bowls for rice on the kitchen table. I somewhat resented Sakura for being so… so fucking… I don't know the word for this one… domestic? Yes domestic. Wife-like. Some odd sense of… I don't know what was telling me that she belonged right there, safe and sound in my kitchen, cooking food for _us_. Every night from now on. That whatever-it-was was fucking _annoying _and I wanted it to shut the fuck up already. I was getting tired of going in circles in my head. _This_… us being like this was probably impossible. So enough already. Just deal with it.

Nope. Whatever that feeling was, it wouldn't go away. I kept telling myself to not get used to this. I kept telling myself that in a week it would be over. She would be gone. And a few weeks from then, she'd be out on another long-term mission and I probably wouldn't see or talk to her for six months to a year. That annoying voice in the back of my head dreaded the idea of not having her here for the rest of our lives; It made me dread what it would start screaming to me when she actually left. This is fucking _bad_.

…I should have never missed that fucking key falling out of her clutch. Fucking night clubs. I hate night clubs. Hofuku and that stupid, drunk blonde girl are the reason for this war inside my head. I rubbed my eyes. They were starting to ache and so were my temples. For some reason when I was confused I always got headaches. It wasn't long before the ache turned into a full-blown migraine. I grabbed two cups for tea, hoping the migraine would just go away. I must have grabbed them too forcefully, because Sakura noticed and looked over at me from in front of the stove, concern in her eyes. Look, Sasuke. Look. She cares. She fucking cares. She cares about you, idiot!

Ugh. I wanted to hit myself. _Of course_ she cares. She's my_ teammate_ and she doesn't want to be anything more than that; stop fucking thinking about it already!

"Don't you think you should save your wrath for training instead of those poor cups?" She asked snidely and I glared at her. I wasn't in the mood for jokes, even from her. I hated headaches. She glared back at me just as heatedly. "Your fucking eyes are bloodshot, come closer." She commanded and shut off the stove in an aggravated motion, then afterwards slapping the wooden spoon down on a paper towel atop the counter. The rice was drying. We had a few minutes before we could eat. I didn't move. I didn't want her close to me. It would only make the war inside worse. She put her hands on her hips. She looked _so_ good in my shirt. I could almost _see _her stiff nipples beneath the heavy fabric.

"Sasuke." She warned once and her tone was dangerous. I gave up instantly. Fuck it. I walked over to her with straight shoulders and a stiff spine. Fuck it all.

"I'm going to pour some chakra into your eyes. It's going to feel weird because you put chakra into them regularly and mine will feel awkward poking around in them. So try not to flinch away. I don't want to risk damaging anything." She instructed, now calm and professional again.

"I have a migraine." I revealed. My eyes weren't the problem. My stupid fucking indecisive head was.

"I figured." She reached up and touched my temples, the tips of her fingers brushing my lashes as I closed my eyes and tried to relax. She poured her energy into my eyes. I could feel it seeping into the chakra pathways there. The sharingan almost activated from the stimulation. I took a deep breath to keep my chakra from spiking in response to hers. I didn't want to screw up whatever she was doing and I didn't want my eyes damaged as a result of that.

"That's weird. You have some eye strain. Hold still. I'm going to make the migraine go away, maybe it'll fix the strain on your eyes." She smelled so clean and her skin was so soft. I found her scent relaxing, even though it was turning me on that she smelled like my near-scentless soap.

A few seconds passed.

And just like that I felt the pain in my head recede. I exhaled in relief. The achiness in my eyes went away soon after. When Sakura was done she shuffled back over to the rice pot. I watched her, surprised that she didn't ask any questions or badger me about my migraines. She yawned as she turned off the rice cooker. It was only eight o' clock, was she really sleepy already? I smirked at her.

"What?" She asked as she brought the pan of stir fry over and dumped some food onto our plates. I resisted the urge to salivate at the scent of the home-cooked meal. Kami-sama… I feel like I could eat ten helpings of it. Wait fuck that; ten helpings of a food is only something Naruto could stuff down. I'm not _that_ hungry…

"Nothing. You're tired?" I asked automatically in response.

"Yeah. I have to be up at four, remember? I don't know why I'm still awake, actually." She quipped back. She carried the pan back over to the stove, and then came back for the bowls of rice. I noticed she had already made tea. She probably realized that I had a thing for tea, specifically green tea. There was something soothing about it. I grabbed the tea pot off of the stove and poured us some tea so I wouldn't just stand there while she did all the work. She came back with the rice bowls after I placed the tea pot back on the stove. We both sat down and pushed our chairs in.

"Itadakimasu." I drawled and dug in because I was fucking _starving_. My mouth practically climaxed at the mish mash of tasteful flavors in the meal. She had mixed some mild green and yellow peppers with chicken and bits of beef and thinly cut pieces of broccoli. The mixture was covered in a delectable sauce that I could tell she had come up with on her own and I had to remind myself to eat slowly.

I'm not Naruto… I have to slow the fuck down…

I wondered how I had lasted this long without a home-cooked meal like this one. I never had time to cook, so this food had been the highest quality I'd eaten in a while. My mother was the last person to make stir fry that was _this_ good. I silently thanked kami-sama for Sakura's ability to cook.

"You look like you're enjoying that." She grinned. My face got hot again. How could she always fucking tell!?

"It's good." I responded quietly and picked up my tea cup to sip from it. The matcha only added to the deliciousness. Sakura's eyes were bright and she looked like she was remembering something funny. I placed my cup down and looked at her. She took that as a cue to speak.

"I used to be a really shitty cook. I made Naruto and Sai throw up all the time." She admitted and then laughed. I almost couldn't believe her. I looked down at my half-finished plate of stir fry and rice and back at her. Sakura? A bad cook? After tasting something like this? I would have to ask Naruto myself. I smirked then, because it made sense for her to test her horrible food on dobe and Sai. I almost pitied them both, but it benefitted me in the end so I could care less.

"I don't think it's possible to make Naruto throw up." I replied and continued eating. She swallowed what she was chewing on and laughed again. I liked the sound of her laugh. It was pleasant.

"Believe me, it's entirely possible. You just have to suck as bad as I did at cooking." She snorted as she seemed to remember something else. I smirked because I knew her next statement would be funny.

"You know how Sai is really pale?" I nodded as she continued. I didn't have to nod but I did anyway. I wanted to interact with her as much as I could.

"I've never seen a green-faced man until he tried my beef stew. He _just_ barely made it to my bathroom that day. But if it weren't for him, Naruto and even Kakashi-sensei I wouldn't have improved. Choji's mom helped out a lot too." She grinned at the fond memories. I gave her a small smile in return and continued eating. I snickered into my plate at the thought of Sai throwing up. Hah. We were quiet for a few minutes.

"I haven't eaten a home-cooked meal in years." I stated. I don't know why I spoke, or why I even chose to say that but I wanted to say _something_.

"Mm. I'm not surprised. Do you know how to cook?" She asked in a slightly more serious tone.

I nodded. I knew how to cook and how to make food that tasted good. I had to learn once I was orphaned and alone. I just didn't _like_ to cook. Cooking reminded me of my mother when I was younger and no meal that I ever made would taste like the ones she made when she was alive. That rang true to this day. Sakura nodded as well.

"I don't like to cook." I don't know why I told her. Fuck it, it was out of my mouth already.

She laughed.

"Why am I not surprised? Both you and Naruto are like that. Sai is the only one who seems to care about food and out of the three of you he had the least amount of emotional nurturing while growing up." She commented. I grimaced at the thought of Sai. He was an artist wasn't he? Why did I feel slightly miffed that she talked about him fondly?

"He probably views it as an art form…" I grumbled. Cooking could be considered an art right? I think I remember Choji saying that at some point…

"You're right, he probably does. His cooking is way better than mine, anyhow." She shrugged. "Oh well." And she went back to eating.

I doubted that his cooking was better than hers. I don't think I would enjoy it the same way. My mind was suddenly assaulted with the image of Sai cooking in my kitchen, in place of Sakura. I almost threw up everything I just ate. The mental picture was repulsive and if I could burn it away with Amaterasu I would. Disgusting. My attention suddenly snapped to her because she was talking again and I _wanted _to listen.

"Naruto's a lucky jerk. I heard Hinata's cooking is amazing. He's probably eating like a king right now!" Sakura joked, but I shook my head. Naruto and his relationship with the Hyuuga girl was not all that beautiful. And Naruto was a fucking idiot for not stepping up and declaring her as his; I would stand by that statement until the day I died if I had to. I didn't say anything but again, Sakura had apparently been gifted with the ability to read my mind.

"They have a complicated relationship don't they…" Her voice was soft and I looked up from my food to find her frowning into her plate. Without really thinking, I reached over and poked the small, scarlet diamond on her forehead.

"Ouch!" She looked up, glared at me and rubbed at her forehead, much like I did when Itachi used to poke my forehead. I smirked at her, because it was funny and I see now why Itachi did it to me. The reaction was endearing.

"They'll figure it out." I assured her, because if Naruto didn't go to Hiashi himself, I planned on forging a letter in his handwriting to the man, anyway, consequences be damned. She nodded but the worry didn't leave her eyes. She finished the rest of her food and tea in silence. I was done eating not long after her and I was proud of myself for not eating like a starving animal in front of her. I watched as she collected the dishes off of the table and placed them in the sink. I was pissed at the fact that she turned on the water and got the sponge ready, so I stood up as quickly as I could. I moved behind her and wiggled the sponge free from her hand before she could avoid my hands. She twisted her neck because now she was trapped against the sink and looked up at me, annoyed.

"I said I'd do the dishes. Go to sleep." I tossed the thirsty sponge into the sink past her and turned off the water because I _knew_ she'd fight back on this one. Don't even ask me how I knew, I just did.

"Sasuke, it's _my_ mess, let me—

"No. You have to work tomorrow. Just sleep." I ran over her sentence with my own. I wasn't backing out of this one.

"But I—

"_Bed_." And I placed my hands firmly on her delicate shoulders. I planned on marching her to my room, but stubbornly, she death-gripped my countertop. Fuck. She always had to make _everything_ hard. I sighed and gripped her wrists and pulled. That didn't work. My countertop creaked under the pressure of her chakra-enhanced strength instead. Fine! Fucking damn it. I pulled her petite torso flush against mine and lifted her as high as I could, avoiding her breasts like the plague, sticking to her waist instead. I felt her tighten her abdominal muscles to prevent me from squishing her organs. Good, she wasn't stupid. She gritted her teeth. I kept lifting her until her feet weren't on the floor anymore. Eventually, I lifted her high enough and she cursed and flailed her legs.

"Fuck! No!" Her fingers lost traction at the odd angle, slipping on the bit of moisture on the counter and she released. Good. I set her down off to the side with a snooty huff from her, and placed my hands back on her shoulders and guided her to my bedroom. At first she sort of dug her heels into the floor.

Fuck. She was stubborn.

"Sakura." I grounded out her name and she sighed and let up. I continued pushing her in front of me, guiding her to my room like some sort of prisoner. I stopped at the threshold and she turned around and sent me a weak glare, but stepped inside the room anyway.

"Oyasumi." She grumbled, crossing her arms. I smirked in response because I had won this battle.

"Aa, oyasumi." I turned around and went back to the sink. I heard the soft rustling of fabric and knew she was climbing under the sheets. Good. I calmly went back to dish washing. I hated the task, but it was menial, repetitive and time-consuming. It would do. I needed to do something while I thought myself further into hell.

I stood there scrubbing away briskly but efficiently and thought about seeing Kakashi tomorrow… And that glasses kid named after noodles. Hn. Kakashi would probably tell me I lost my mind. Actually, he might threaten me, to be realistic. I could tell he viewed Sakura as somewhat of a wayward daughter and I knew for a fact that he felt guilty about not giving her as much attention as he gave me or Naruto when we were younger. He'd be damned if he'd let me hurt her again… But that was another reason why it was best to see him about everything going on in my head. If my thoughts turned into actions and those actions led to hurting Sakura when you looked at the big picture, he would foresee it and tell me to keep everything to my fucking self. I trusted him to give me a reality check, if I needed one. I trusted him to stop me from doing something stupid or regrettable, like he always tried to.

My thoughts wandered to Naruto as I placed the clean dishes on the metal drying rack next to the sink. I remembered what Shizune said earlier today. Naruto _loved_ Sakura. I mean, I wasn't stupid; I saw his feelings for her when we were genin. I just didn't know those feelings had persisted for so long. I wondered if Sakura was the only thing Naruto had _ever_ given up on.

Except… that doesn't make an ounce of sense because Naruto _never_ gives up… I felt my eyes narrowing and a disgusting feeling made its way into my chest. Was he… was he _still_ trying for her to come around… just in a roundabout kind of way?

Jealousy. Suspicion. Possessiveness. They were ugly things and they were creeping into me, slowly, making me extremely uncomfortable with myself. It didn't help that I _knew _Naruto had been the better man throughout our _entire_ fucking lives. I shot my bedroom door a quick glance. Sakura had _insisted _she go to Naruto's apartment when she lost her key. I wasn't even an option in her mind… why was that, when we had enjoyed our time together that night? I narrowed my eyes at the door too, as if the answer was written on it. I wasn't seeing something. There was a missing puzzle piece _somewhere _and it was beginning to piss me off.

Did Naruto and Sakura have a… a _thing_ at some point? Had they _fucked_? I almost bent the metal cupcake pan; I was gripping it so tightly. I shook my head violently. Why didn't I want to believe that that was a possibility? Everything in my mind refused the idea, even though logic was telling me that I _had_ to think about it as a plausible situation. I wasn't here often. I didn't know what went on between others that I knew, specifically Naruto and Sakura. Naruto never really talked about Sakura. I assumed she hadn't seen him as much as she hadn't seen me, but that wouldn't explain how she seemed so familiar with going to his apartment when drunk or in a tight spot. In conclusion, at some point while I was away or living on my own after my probation Sakura had spent a few nights with Naruto… That was clear and plain, according to the information I was able to gather.

…

…

…

Sakura had spent a few nights with Naruto…

…

…

…

Well what the _fuck _happened when she went there? I scrubbed at the mixing bowl angrily, soap bubbles floating up and popping in front of my face. Something _must_ have happened. I'm only coming to that conclusion because if absolutely nothing happened then Naruto would have _gladly _slipped that bit of information somewhere into a past conversation with me… but he _never_ did. In fact, he fucking talked a lot about Hinata so I never really even got the chance to _think_ about Sakura. I narrowed my eyes. More suspicion. Did he not mention Sakura so I wouldn't be suspicious of them if something _did_ happen between them?

I had to calm down. Being angry and jumping to conclusions wouldn't help anyone, especially me. Maybe Naruto hadn't told me because he didn't want me to think about the fact that Sakura was the one person who hadn't warmly accepted me back. Maybe he thought avoiding the thought of her was the best course of action. Maybe he knew there was still a _huge_ pile of shit between us and he didn't want to get involved in it. Maybe that's why he arranged it so that we became neighbors… so we'd deal with it on our own.

I inhaled and exhaled. Fuck… That made a lot of sense but I still felt… dirty and grimy, like something ugly and twisted had made its way into my body. Nii-san… I need your help. I closed my eyes. They were the last thing I had left of Itachi aside from his necklace— which I never knew why he wore in the first place, by the way. Regardless, my eyes were once my brother's. My stupid head probably didn't help them see anything clearly, but I practically clung to them in times of distress. I felt better thinking about my brother. Thinking about him helped remind me that I needed to calculate, rather than assume. I needed more data to analyze. That much was clear. … … … So should I confront Naruto, or Sakura?

Fuck, now that I think about it… it's _weird_ that he won't propose to Hinata if he loves her as much as he says he does. He also _never_ ignores my advice. I placed the bowl on the drying rack and worked on all of the utensils left in the sink. I couldn't confront Sakura. That would turn really ugly, really fast. She would deck me and I would end up using the sharingan on her to make her forget I asked and I'd feel guilty. That wasn't the right path. I needed someone knowledgeable… someone within Sakura and Naruto's "circle" that… was nosy enough to ask…

…

Ino. And I smirked into the sink with my newfound agenda. Yes, I would be visiting Ino tomorrow, too, because I needed more information to go on. On one hand, Sakura could possibly have had feelings for Naruto at some point. They could have fucked or kissed or something they shouldn't have and she could have rejected him afterwards, which would explain why I hadn't seen her around him a single time since the reunion dinner. On the other hand,nothing could have happened and they're really just close friends and she was just really drunk the night she lost her key and completely oblivious to how much she would hurt Naruto by unintentionally flaunting herself to him… and hasn't really had time to see him since the reunion dinner… Naruto could _really _just be nervous about talking to Hiashi…That would also explain everything. Either way I had to be sure. I would grill Ino for information tomorrow. Until then I would keep to myself. I dried all of the dishes, put them away and flicked off the kitchen light. I made my way to my room. Sakura was kindly scooted over to one side of my bed.

Why were we sleeping together, again? This would only end up fucking me up worse…

Oh right… neither of us wanted the couch. I crawled in next to her. She didn't stir. She was breathing deeply and I could tell she had already fallen asleep. Her eyes were moving behind her eyelids when I looked over at her. She was already in REM. How long did I spend washing dishes at the sink? I fisted my hands. My fingers were sore and pruned. I was probably there for a while. I turned my back to her and held onto my pillow because I needed to hold onto _something._ I felt irrational and touchy and betrayed, even though I had no right to be upset, considering the kind of asshole that I was in the past. I felt nosy and unlike myself. I took a deep breath to calm down, because tomorrow, no matter what I found out, I would probably know everything that I needed to know… I would have to bring some extra cash with me if Ino didn't particularly feel like gossiping… was it even possible to bribe her with money?

Suddenly, I froze. Sakura had turned around. Her arm crashed over my midsection and slightly winded me. I wasn't expecting that. I shuddered as she forced her way past my arms and slid her hands up my abs and across my chest, sticking her fingers under my armpit. Her fucking fingers were _ice cold_. I shivered. What the fuck was wrong with her circulation? She exhaled and I felt her breath ghost across the skin of my shoulder blades. She rubbed her nose into my spine. She was warm everywhere else… She put an actual meaning to the phrase "doctor hands"… I could feel her toned stomach against my back. I got hard when I felt her soft skin slide against the skin of my lower back. When did her— I mean _my_— shirt ride up on her? She exhaled, deeply and settled back into sleep. Somehow, I felt comforted by her, even though she was the cause of my problems. _That_ was _not_ natural. I rolled my eyes, placed my hand atop hers and tried to relax.

Stop being horny just go to sleep already…

-X-

I awoke with a racing heart to the sound of an ear-piercing scream. _Sakura's _scream. My eyes flew open, I tried to sit up. I realized I couldn't. There was a weight on my body!

Fuck! Sakura—! She's in dange—

Oh. Sakura's _on_ me… Her nails had dug into my skin; she was trembling. Awkwardly, I put my hand on her shoulder. She flinched. Just when the hell did we end up facing each other? That's not how we fell asleep… It was clear to me that she had another one of her nightmares.

"S…Sasuke?" She sounded so small. I could see her looking up at me in the dark. The moon outside gave my room a dimmed, silvery glow through the half-open blinds. Her eyes looked _terrified_. They weren't clear or focused.

"Do you remember where you are?" I asked solidly, confidently. I knew what it was like to wake up from nightmares. I had them nightly when I was younger. Sometimes they were so vivid I wouldn't realize that I wasn't in the nightmare anymore when I woke up. I also had no one to assure me that I wouldn't find the dead bodies of my kin just outside my window. I just had to get up and go look; face the fear of seeing them there, dead and doll-like almost every night. The nightmare was never over until the street was clear outside. I shuddered at the memory. Those were dark days…

"Yes…" She said after a while and her eyes were clear when she spoke. Her cheeks were pink and she was frowning. "Sorry…" She apologized quickly. She detached her nails from my skin and I resisted the dirty thoughts that arose afterwards. She was fucking traumatized by something. I shouldn't be thinking like _that_ after she just woke up _screaming_. I rubbed my thumb against the curve of her shoulder. She looked exhausted. I don't know why we just stared at each other. Several long seconds passed between us. I looked at her as she sleepily peered back at me beneath her thick lashes. I wondered what the fuck was going on. I kept my mouth shut. She didn't say anything either. Why was she so quiet? Her eyelids slowly fell shut as I kept up what I was doing with my thumb. One of her small hands— now warm undoubtedly because of the body heat she stole from me— pressed against my chest, right where my heart was... The other hand curled up into her chest by the zipper of the shirt I loaned her. She fell back asleep rather soundly. I couldn't breathe for a few minutes. I kept my hand frozen on her shoulder I just looked at her for a while, surprised by both her and myself. What the _fuck_ are we doing? Touching each other like this… sleeping with each other like this… it's fucking _dangerous_. Doesn't she know that? What if I decided to kiss her when she woke up instead? What the fuck— how the fuck would we deal with something like _that_ afterwards? I squeezed my eyes shut and refused to think about the mess we had made.

Sleep. Just fucking sleep. Kami-sama please just let me get back to sleep.

-X-

I dreamt about my brother. We were sitting in a field. He was talking but I couldn't _fucking_ tell what he was saying. I was so confused and upset in the dream. It's like he was speaking a language I didn't understand. I heard his voice but traumatically I couldn't understand his words. I woke up feeling similarly confused and upset, only this time I was hit with a pang of loneliness like a slap across the face. Sakura was gone. The birds were chirping outside and their songs were what woke me. I looked at the clock on my nightstand. It was six. Sakura was beyond stealthy if she managed to slip out of bed without waking me. I wondered how she managed to do that as I mechanically stepped out of bed and began to dress myself. I zipped up a grey tunic and pulled on a standard pair of black nin pants over my boxers. I grabbed all of my pouches, arm warmers and kusanagi and put them where they belonged. I grabbed my hitai-ate and trudged out of my room after making my bed.

I glanced over at the kitchen table. There was a small note. I abandoned my trip to the bathroom and redirected myself to the note. I picked it up and unfolded it. Sakura had apparently rifled through my desk while I was asleep as well. She had found my notepad. Did she _drug _me in my sleep? How was she so silent and imperceptible? I had _freakish_ instincts while I was asleep… _Everything_ woke me up. How did this woman manage not to trip all of the proverbial alarms I trained my body to have over the years?

_Sasuke, breakfast is in the fridge. I don't know if you like eggs, but I made them anyway. I'll probably end up working late tonight. See you later._

_By the way… sorry again for waking you last night. Thanks for being there for me._

—_Sakura—_

I read the note in her voice in my mind and couldn't help but assume she was somber when she wrote it. Was she afraid of what I thought of her? Is that why she just slipped out without a word this morning? Did she need space or did she think _I _needed space? Is she really dumb enough to think I'd judge her for having nightmares? … I fucking sure as hell judged her for not understanding me when we were kids, though…

Ugh. I grabbed the note and threw it into the trash. She made me question _everything_. She always did. I went back to the bathroom, used the toilet, brushed my teeth, glared at my duck's-ass hair and put my hitai-ate on. I went to the refrigerator afterwards, grabbed the cold scrambled eggs mixed with bits of beef, threw away the plastic sheet covering the food and the plate and stuck the meal into the microwave at the far end of my counter. I waited two minutes for the food to heat up and rushed through the eating process. I ate at the counter, wondering how she had made breakfast and washed up afterwards without me waking up. She fucking drugged me. She must have to have accomplished that much…

I shoveled the food into my mouth in my awkward standing position. I didn't have time to eat at the table… Actually, I didn't have time to fucking eat, _period_. I had a gossiping kunoichi to hunt down. But I ate anyway, because Sakura would be upset if I didn't and I didn't feel like fighting with her later. I washed dishes, grumbled while I made my morning tea and sipped on the mixture afterwards. The wall clock in the living room ticked away the time. It made my apartment feel hollow. I glared at the floor when I admitted to myself that it was empty without Sakura there with her dancing, her music, her pink hair and her laughter. I cleaned my tea cup and left my apartment, unintentionally slamming the door shut in my haste.

-X-

After much stalking and surveying I found Ino at her family's flower shop. She was manning the register for her mom. She was probably visiting her mother today. I strolled in and several pairs of eyes flew to me instantly. I must have looked like I was delivering hell and a violent death, because a mother and her child quickly walked out and the customer at the desk skipped the small talk Ino tried to make after paying for a bouquet for someone undoubtedly special in his life. I crossed my arms once the store was empty and Ino glared kunai at me.

"What?" She hissed. "This better be worth scaring away my customers." She crossed her arms too and leaned against the wall behind the counter, waiting for me to speak. I sighed. Where the fuck do I start? I was the best at being blunt and Ino was the best at gleaning information from short sentences. So I spoke.

"What happened between Naruto and Sakura?" I asked. She cocked a blonde brow.

"Something happened between them?" She sounded concerned.

She didn't know what I was talking about. Okay so obviously things happened between Naruto and Sakura often. That's not surprising, considering who they both were. I needed to rephrase myself.

"I mean romantically." I paused. "In the past." I added. _That _did the trick.

Ino paled. 'Got her.

"I…don't think I can tell you that." She replied honestly after a few seconds of inner debate. Good. She knew she wasn't going to be able to bullshit me.

"I think you should." I still had to argue. I needed to know. Ino sighed, defeated.

"You aren't going to give up, are you?" She asked, slightly miffed.

I shook my head quietly. She rolled her powder-blue eyes and opened a door next to her, calling up the stairs behind said door.

"Mooooom! I'm going out!" She yelled and I have to say my ears rang. She could get high-pitched if she really wanted to. Thank Kami-sama I wasn't in Sai's shoes.

"Okay!" Was the quick, feminine response from the floor above. Ino leapt over the counter and walked out of the shop, jingling the bells of the door. I followed after her. She broke into a run once in the street and I followed suit. Once she hit the rooftops I realized we were running to the top of the hokage monument. We stopped atop yondaime's spiky head of hair. It was fitting that this conversation about Naruto would happen atop his father's monument. Ino peered around and I double checked to make sure we were completely alone. She sat down and hung her legs over the edge of the cliff. I gracefully fell onto my backside in a meditative position next to her. I hoped she would be able to tell me everything, but it seemed like she was having trouble deciding on that. Her eyes were flitting across the village and she seemed like she was debating with herself whether or not she should actually tell me anything.

"I really don't think I should tell you their business." She reiterated once more. It was a logical argument. She knew I listened to logic more than I listened to feelings.

"You know I have ways of getting the information out of you anyway." I supplied in a non-violent tone. I _did_ have the upper hand. I _did _have to remind her of what I _could_ do even if I wouldn't do it.

"You'd really use Tsukuyomi?" She queried, surprised. I felt her eyes on me.

"If I threatened you with it would you speak willingly on the pretense that you had no choice the moment I decided to ask you in the first place?" I responded and looked over at her. I wouldn't hurt her. She knew that. I knew that. But if I really wanted to, I could just genjutsu my way past all of her mental barriers and make her reveal the information once I was in her head anyway. She sighed.

"I don't want this to come back to me." She threatened and crossed her arms again when she realized she had no choice. I nodded. That was understandable.

"I won't speak about or act on anything I hear from this point on." My tone was promising.

"First tell me how you figured it out." She smirked. "It's the price for information." My eyes widened and I glared at the hokage tower in the distance. She was fucking slick. I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Sakura lost her key at Hofuku." I began, because where else to begin but at the beginning? I assumed Sakura had already complained to her that she was living next to me... "She ended up staying with me, but that's because I practically forced her to. Why did she want to go to Naruto's so badly?" I cut things short because I was tired of not knowing.

Ino hissed in mock pain. "Ouch. Okay, I see where your thoughts would have eventually taken you… but I can't fathom why you'd care, Mr. Avenger…" She chirped knowingly.

Now I snapped my head towards her and glared at her snide expression. Why was she being such a bitch about things? I suppose I deserved her attitude and her nosiness. I was being a nosy prick myself. I sighed, keeping as calm as possible.

"I was going to save this one for Kakashi…" I began, because I really was, but I should have counted on Ino catching on. She wasn't an idiot. She was sometimes, but she really wasn't. "You can't repeat or act on anything I say either. I need that as a promise." I backtracked before I said anything more. I needed this to stay secret. I needed her to take this to the grave. She understood, because she grinned and lifted her pinky finger. I glared at it and intertwined my pinky with hers. It was childish but it would do for now.

"Go on… admit it already…" She urged, again, snidely. I glared at her. Ino was made of pure evil. All Yamanakas were. I was convinced now. I rolled my eyes.

"I like Sakura in ways that I shouldn't but Naruto's my _brother_. That's why I care." I crossed my arms. Was she happy now? Yes. She was fucking ecstatic. She squealed like a little girl at a clothing store and clapped her hands together many quick, successive times. I wanted to rip my hair out of my head. Did she have to make me feel so… _weird_ about it all?

"Okay that's good enough for now." She smiled. "And if you're wondering, no, Naruto and Sakura never had a relationship… not an official one, at least." She shrugged and my eyes widened. Wait, what the _fuck_ did she mean 'not an official one'? My mind naturally reverted to the worst case scenario: they had agreed to having sex with each other for some unspecified period of time. Ino must have seen the horror in my eyes because she quickly began to explain, putting her hands up in an effort to calm my racing thoughts.

"Okay. Sakura came crying to me one morning. I was in my office. And this is why I didn't want to tell you, by the way, because what I know was said to me in _private._ _At my job_. I'm only breaking the rules because I think it would benefit Sakura in the end." She glared at me as she spoke, but continued in a lighter albeit rushed tone.

"Anyway, she said that she had screwed up. Of course, I asked her how. Apparently, she had made it a habit to get drunk and stay at Naruto's _before_ he made it official with Hinata. At first it was fine because they were friends. Friends look out for friends. This was soon after your probation ended, by the way. _Anyway_, She had kissed him the night before she came crying to me. She was drunk it was an accident on her part. He knew she was drunk and not all there. Luckily for you, Naruto's an upstanding guy and stopped her before things went too far. She told me she told him that she had feelings for him but couldn't love him completely because she didn't feel like she'd ever deserve him after the way she treated him when they were younger; I'm assuming you were around for that so I guess you know what she meant. She cried and told him how much better Hinata was for him once she was sober, but you know him. He didn't want to hear any of that shit. He fucking _loved_ her. And Sakura had revealed that to some extent she liked him."

My heart was pounding. What the _fuck_? That was a _big_ fucking issue. What the fuck happened after that!?

"— So they got into a fight. She didn't want to be with him because he was too good for her and she would hate herself every day she was with him. At least, that's what she said she told him. She told me she made him _cry_. That was when she decided to take back to back missions and ignore everyone who ever cared about her. I think Naruto was able to put it behind them, kind of, and started dating Hinata then." Ino studied me for a reaction. My heart was beating too quickly for me to really have one.

How to react?

So… Sakura _did_ like Naruto. But… for his own good she blacklisted him? Was that her only reason? No. Not possible. Sakura was as selfish as I was sometimes. Tch she refused to be with him for his own good? Bullshit. If she _really _liked him, _loved_ him completely, they would openly be together now…

"That's not everything." I deadpanned, praying I was right. Apparently, Ino was testing my patience. She smiled and nodded.

"Good deduction. You passed the patience and stress test." I glared at her, but she ignored me and continued. "_Yes_, she didn't tell Naruto the _entire_ truth, which was stupid on her part, if you ask me. She's attracted to him but you know Sakura; she's not stupid. She knows they're not compatible. Naruto is Sakura's anti-Sakura; everything he does gets on her nerves. She can't deal with the negatives out of love like Hinata-chan can. She knew they'd implode eventually if they ever dated and would probably cause a war between all of their collective friends, which includes both you and I. She didn't want any of that drama. She said she didn't tell him any of that because Naruto would just tell her that she's wrong and that they should try and she didn't want to hurt him any more than she already had. She closed the topic and asked him not to ever bring it up again. He promised her he wouldn't. She's obviously over it, even though she's guilty as hell, but he isn't... not completely. That's why they don't hang out much. He's still friends with her, though. Nice guy." Ino took a deep breath and exhaled and played with the hem of her nin skirt. I analyzed the information she gave me.

Okay. Naruto's an idiot. And so is Sakura. He didn't want to propose to Hinata because some dumb stubborn part of him thinks it's still possible between him and Sakura. I felt… _bad_ for him… for _both_ of them. Why the fuck wasn't I there to keep things straight between them? I was their fucking teammate. We'd all been through hell relatively together. At least _one_ of them should have been able to rely on me… Fuck. I sighed.

"Why hasn't anyone cleared things up with Naruto?" I asked, ignoring the annoyed feeling of not being confided in. That was the first thing on the list. My stupid idiot brother's feelings mattered the most. He would ruin his future if this shit wasn't cleared up _soon_, because the Hyuuga girl really _did_ love him.

"If you ask me, I think Naruto cleared things up for himself. He's a baka but he can read feelings pretty well. I doubt forehead-girl would have been able to hide everything from him as she was screaming into his face." Ino shrugged nonchalantly but I could see the tenseness in her shoulders and spine. This was certainly an uncomfortable conversation.

"Do you think that's why he moved Sakura in next to me?" I asked, because it was plausible. Maybe he wanted me to clean the rest of mess without me knowing that I was doing so. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to if I had known all this… no wonder there was so much secrecy… I would have told him to fuck off if he came to me and asked me to be try to go out with Sakura to give him closure. Sakura would have told him to fuck off too. Then she would have told me to go fuck off even harder. I narrowed my eyes at the village. Tsunade was rubbing off on him. It was risky, but sneaky to move us in next to each other and just hope for the best.

I felt played but less angry now. I understood where he was coming from. He would be happy if Sakura ended up with someone he thought she deserved. He would be happy to give his feelings for her up if _I _was the one she ended up with. It astounded me just how much respect he had for me. I was surprised that my happiness and closure was more important to him than his own feelings and that he even realized all of that fast enough to set me up with Sakura and hope that it worked.

"For the record, he moved _you _next to Sakura. She was there first. And I think so. Maybe he'd find peace if Sakura ended up with you. I guess he took a gamble and it worked, huh?" Ino shrugged. She was grinning. I reached over and shoved her shoulder to wipe that smug look off of her face. She knew this _whole_ fucking time and didn't tell me either. I glowered as I watched her fall over to the side.

"Hey!" She hissed and caught herself on the ground by her forearm. "Ugh, _Asshole_! You know, I _am_ the head of the Yamanaka clan! I can start a clan war with you!" She snapped, pointing at me as she sat back up.

"And if you do, you'll _lose_." I spoke in a condescending tone because she deserved it after hiding something so important from me. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Just promise me you won't rip Sakura's hair out next time you see her." And her eyes were pleading. I snickered at my lap. Me? Rip Sakura's hair out? I couldn't if I wanted to at this point. I already liked her. And I happened to like her pink hair. But Naruto? That was a different story. I was going to go home at the end of the day and forge that letter I was talking about earlier…

"Naruto's the one in trouble, and he can handle what I have coming his way, trust me." I stood up. Next on my list of victims was Kakashi… because despite all of this I still needed to know if _trying_ was a good idea. Because hell or high water I wasn't going to hurt Sakura by getting any closer to her and Kakashi would know the right course of action.

Ino stood up too.

"You're leaving already?" She asked, confused.

"Yes, unless there's more fucked up shit I don't know." I deadpanned back and crossed my arms. I ignored the my bangs getting in my face no thanks to the wind. I would need a haircut soon.

"Well no, there isn't. But I _did_ take a half hour lunch break and only spent ten minutes of it! The least you can do is make up for putting me in a traumatic situation and buy me lunch." She huffed, hands on her hips. I smirked, taking out my wallet, smugly relishing in the fact that I had prepared for this exact moment. I handed her a hundred-gold bill. She stared at it with an open mouth and an offended expression.

"Buy yourself lunch. The rest is for your silence. I have things to do." She was still frozen in shock, so I crinkled the bill, tossed it at her chest and shunshinned away before she could complain and call me names.

-X-

I couldn't _fucking_ find Kakashi anywhere and after a short trip to the administrative desk on the first floor of the hokage tower, I found out he was in Kirigakure on a mission. Rolling my eyes, I decided to find that noodles/glasses kid. To find him, I went where _I_ would go if I were seventeen and in Konoha: the Konoha training fields. I found him in field ten; a relatively private area compared to the others. He was fighting an opponent I couldn't see. His taijutsu was impressive. It was an improvised version of the Uchiha style. Sakura was right. The kid idolized me. I stepped forward and he whirled around, sensing my chakra. He bowed once he recognized me. I met him in the clearing.

"Sasuke-sama!" He seemed surprised. I would be too in his shoes. I hadn't talked to him since my chunin exams. _My_ chunin exams. The exams during which Orochimaru _fucked_ my team. If I remember correctly he was busy gathering information on the contestants for the Konoha newspaper.

"Yo." I greeted. I found a log and sat on it. The kid watched me, not knowing what to do. To his credit, he was decently good at hiding his uncertainty. His glasses were smaller on his face compared to the last time I saw him. I noticed that his hair was similar to mine, except his didn't anti-gravity in the back like mine did. It was a sandy brown color. He was lucky he didn't have chicken-hair, in my opinion. He was dressed in a black high-collared, zip-up tunic, similar to mine, and white nin pants that seemed scuffed up. His hitai-ate was on his forehead much like mine was.

"Should I sit?" He asked, and put his kunai back into the grey pouch on his left thigh.

"Do what you want." I wasn't good at helping people. But I had to try, only because this kid obviously didn't hate me after everything I did. E sighed and sat down next to me.

"I heard Konohamaru knocked you and Sakura-nee-chan down yesterday. I'm sure he already apologized, but I'm sorry anyway." I was surprised to hear him speak first. His voice was deeper than I remembered. I suddenly felt old. It wasn't long ago that I was his age. Where had the time flown to?

"Don't apologize. You didn't knock me down, your dumb friend did." I replied. "But speaking of which, what the hell are you going to do about that Moegi girl, don't you like her?"

"W-what?" Suddenly he was standing. Wow. A question put him on edge enough to go into fight-or-flight mode. Interesting.

"Sit." Robotically, he sat back down. "I was with Sakura yesterday and she said something alarming about your friends."

I felt weird for meddling, but I had to help him out. After all, imagine being him, saying that he looked up to me, and then finding out that I deserted the village. How embarrassing. I fucking embarrassed the kid. I'm sure I did at some point without even realizing it, so I owed him this.

"What's that?" I looked over at him and noted the pink tinge to his cheeks. His eyes were even similar to mine. They were coal black and large. They widened behind his glasses.

"She thinks Konohamaru and Moegi act like a married couple. You tell me what's wrong with that statement." I deadpanned back. He was alarmed, but he kept his cool. He narrowed his eyes.

"How did you know I have feelings for Moegi-chan?" He asked calmly. I shrugged.

"I have an eye for detail." I remembered the way he looked at her when they were just academy kids. I could tell he liked her. He paid attention to every question she asked me during my interview, rather than paying attention to my short and admittedly assholistic responses.

"Okay… but there's nothing I can do about the way she feels." He shrugged. "I like her, but I don't think she likes me. She's always running after Konohamaru." He shrugged again, and for some reason, I fucking _really _felt for the kid. I liked Sakura knowing she didn't want anything to do with me beyond fucking me. We were more or less in the same boat. I sighed.

"Come on." I stood up. I was going to be here for this kid, because he really seemed like he needed someone there. I knew what it was like to not really have anyone there. He needed a better teacher anyway.

"Where are we going?" He asked and stood up in time with me.

"Nowhere. You're going to meet me here at this training ground at fife-thirty _every morning_ unless I tell you otherwise. Your taijutsu is impressive but it's shit compared to the Uchiha style you're improvising on. We'll work on that and anything else you need to cover." I commanded. I liked this kid. He wasn't annoying and he was pretty creative as far as taijutsu went. It would be worth helping him out. Maybe he'd learn to impress that Moegi girl too. At the very least, I now had an ulterior motive to be up at the same time that Sakura had to be up… It worked out.

He gazed at me, confused, as if he was trying to discern whether or not I was lying.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes at him. He shook his head. Skeptically, he stepped forward into his fighting stance. I shook my head and moved next to him and stepped into the first and most basic kata of the Uchiha style.

"First you have to learn all of the katas the _right_ way." I explained, like my father once explained to me.

-X-

AWWWWWW! And yet again we see the sweet side of Sasuke! SO what did you guys think of the stuff Sasuke found out from Ino!? Are you shocked? I hinted so hard (as far as subtle writing goes) at Sakura and Naruto's –ahem- _thing_ in the earlier chapters! GAAAAAAAH! Review before I burst! I _have _to know what you guys think!

Disclaimer: I don't own jack squat. I don't make money writing this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	15. Soon

KISEKI

|15|

YES! SO many reviews! Thank you! Min-na! ARIGATOOOOOOO T_T *Rock Lee's super-pumped teary-eyed face with fist here* It means so much that you guys are even reviewing as guests on FF T_T This chapter is also in dedication to you guys! I think it's my best Sakura chapter to date, only because I was really able to get into her shoes this time for some reason.

Also, please allow me to apologize for the late post. Work and family have both been crazy and not to mention I've gotten sick and for the first time in my life had an allergic reaction to a medication. I've _never_ had hives before; I mean like _never_ in my _entire_ almost-twenty-three years of life lol. I'm not allergic to anything except penicillin so I really thought I was going to die. Lol The pharmacist laughed at me. I was like "I'm having a panic attack, even if you can't tell right now. You need to confirm whether or not I'm going to die and if I live you need to tell me if these horrible red patches are going to go away." See, I had already taken Benadryl so it chilled me out a lot so I said all of this in a deadpan with a straight face. The guy looked like it was the funniest thing he'd seen since Gabriel Iglasias hahahahhahah anyway, enjoy!

-X-

I had just finished with my third operation of the day. The first one was scheduled right at six in the morning. That one took two hours. About a half hour into checking on some low-risk patients after that, a trio of anbu crashed through the window of an OR. They were idiots. I couldn't operate around broken glass so they had to be moved to another OR and because of them we were now down one OR. Anyway, during that dilemma, I did another major surgery: putting Hyuuga Rohsuke-san's intestines, liver and kidneys back in order.

You should know by now why that one was as emotionally distressing as well as mentally. Not only was this man dying, but his beautiful face reminded me of Neji's. That fiasco took me about three hours and most of my remaining chakra… just because I fell into a particularly meticulous mood and couldn't stop healing him until he was in near perfect condition and conscious. The third OP was another scheduled one. It was minor. I was to re-design a baby's misshapen bones. It was mildly stressful because I had to use the remainder of my energy and operate at peak performance with it. It was a baby. There was _no_ room for error and I had to seep and move my chakra within the little boy's body at infinitesimal levels. Thankfully, everything went without a hitch.

My stomach grumbled as I finished washing my hands. I assured the worried, chocolate-haired mother that her baby would grow up and develop just fine from now on and made my exit, wiping the remainder of the moisture onto my labcoat. Now, I was making my way to the break room to find some takeout menu so I could finally buy some—

I almost tripped over myself as I remembered that I had _no _money to pay for take-out with! Shit! I smacked my forehead, wondering why I didn't think about taking lunch with me. Oh, _right_…. I was cleaning up this morning, focusing _so_ entirely on being stealthy to not wake Sasuke that I _completely _and _utterly _forgot to plan ahead for disasters like this one. Shit.

_But_… not eating was better than facing Sasuke after my issue last night. I had _no_ right to wake up screaming in the middle of the night… not after everything _he'd _been through. If _he_ could deal with his life after everything that happened to him, I had no right to complain about people I couldn't save and about people I had to kill that still haunted me in my sleep... Speaking of my freakish dreams, I don't even want to _begin _to think about that weird dream I had about Sasuke comforting me right afterwards; I've had enough stress for today…

Coffee… I'll just have caffeine support me until tonight. It should work. Maybe, just _maybe_ I could borrow some money from— Ugh! No! _No_, I can't borrow money, 'cause then I'll owe more people money. Being in debt to one Uchiha Sasuke was enough for me. As I began to near the end of the hallway, I stopped in my tracks as a familiar voice reached my ears. It was deep and smooth like a traditional drum. Suchiru…? His tone was low and… it sounded… _husky... _What… the _fuck_? I crept to the end of the cool sterile hallway, where to my right there were more rooms for recovering patients.

"Mmn… Y-Yamanaka-san!" A female voice pleaded… but not really _pleaded_… if you know what I mean… It just sounded like she _needed_ something and _now…_ that "something" being sex.

My mouth dropped open only because I _recognized_ that voice too… That was Yuki-chan's voice! She was a nurse here…she was on _my _roster! I heard low grunting and… _wet_ sounds. Oh. My. Fucking. Kami-sama. I was _actually _listening to real-life porn…. Happening in the hospital… My fucking brain… it… it stopped. I don't think it will ever work right again…

"Shhhh… don't be so loud… Ughn…" Definitely…_definitely _Suchiru's voice! The shuffling sounds on the floor told me more than I needed to know. They were _really _fucking… _fucking_! –On the floor like some _animals_ in the recovery ward! What the fuck! I had to be sure it was him, though… I don't know why I bothered to double check but I just had to make sure… Suchiru-san just didn't seem like the womanizing type! I plastered my body to the wall, turned and peaked. The hallway was clear. The doors were all shut but I could still hear the muffled sounds of sex and ecstasy in the empty recovery ward. Which door was it coming from…? Despite my empty stomach, I went into anbu mode and dropped low to the ground. I kept my head beneath the little square windows on each door. I slowly crept down the hall like a cat. Room 202? No. 203? No. …204? I listened closely. was it!

"You're pussy's so _fucking tight _Yu… hurry and cum so I can finish already…"

Ew. I didn't want to hear that... not from him to her… It was just _so_ not sexy to hear from my position…

I dropped to all fours and peaked under the gap between the door and the floor. Sure enough, long black hair dusted the floor. Yuki's hair. _Who_ is she fucking…in the doggy position? Ugh so gross… Why am I here again, watching their knee caps get abused while they screw?

"Ugn—uh! Ahhh! S-Suchi! I-I-I'm… aaaaaaaaaahhhhhnnnnN!" She screamed and I was surprised that the entirety of anbu hadn't heard that from HQ.

My eyes widened as I realized the name she had blurted out in her ignorance. She was _definitely _fucking Suchiru.

"Oh fuck…" He let out a low, hushed grunt. Sure enough, seconds later they both collapsed—him on top of her. I saw a lock of pale blonde hair and I was out of there, back down the hall, around the corner and quickly making my way to the lunch room taking the high-traffic route instead of the more private one. My mind was still spinning, still absorbing what I had heard and seen. I felt numb as I processed. I've been fooled…

"…_he just wants to fuck you…" _

Sasuke.

Sasuke's deep, fucking _infuriatingly condescending _tone filled my mind. But I couldn't bring myself to be angry at him. He was right. He was fucking right this whole time. I stopped in a busy hallway and placed my hand against the wall, bracing myself, ignoring the odd looks the custodians and bustling interns were giving me.

Suchiru was a _fucking _play-boy hentai! I felt so stupid. Who did that fucking blonde think he was, insulting _my_ intelligence like that!? I felt so stupid. Holy _shit_ Sasuke was right! Oh Kami-sama Suchiru is an _ass! _Ugh! I'm _soooo _dumb! My mind was in ten different places at once, scattered and erratic. I felt shocked, angry, foolish, and offended at the same time. I didn't know what I wanted or rather _needed _to do first.

Should I storm in there and fire Yuki on the spot?

No. It's not her fault she's stupid. Stay calm. I'll find a suitable punishment for her later because she _still _did something fucked up in a professional environment.

As for Yamanaka Suchiru… that fucking liar… Oh… oh _no_. _No one _lied to me and got away with it… There _has_ to be some way…that… I can…

I smirked.

Then I grinned. _Evilly. _There has to be some way that I can _get back at him_… If it were _Sasuke_, he'd find some way to get back at that son of a _bitch_ and make payback _three times _as worse as what Suchiru did to him. I focused on the evilest thing I could imagine; channeling as much of Sasuke's vengeful tendencies as I could. It only took me a second of focusing on my teammate to figure out what I needed to do to teach Suchiru a lesson… I spun around, pure _evil_ shining in my eyes and again ignored the strange looks I recieved.

Heh… heh-heh… I now had a plan… a _brilliant_ plan… but first… I would need to eat and get through today. Maybe I can borrow money from Shizune. I needed food to think and plan _everything_ out _accordingly._

I trudged through the hospital, wasting about ten minutes of my break time trying to find Shizune. I was holding onto my stomach because it _hurt_ and the sickening sex scene I stumbled upon didn't make it feel any better. The last time it hurt _this_ bad from hunger was… when Kakashi-sensei initially gave us his bell test. I squeezed my eyes shut as another pang of emptiness hit my poor, unintentionally abused, empty stomach, not really watching where I was going. I shouldn't have been surprised when someone crashed into me with surprising _force_, hurting my face, nose, shoulders and even my butt after I fell to the floor. Ouch.

"Uuuuugh… for the last time, Konohamaru!" I hissed and looked up, but the hand outstretched wasn't Konohamaru's. Surprisingly, it was _Sasuke's_. I looked up at him and tilted my head to the side. What… the hell was he doing here? He glared down at me when I failed to do anything but stare in surprise.

Oh right. He's trying to help me up. My brain finally caught up to the moment. I took his hand and dusted off my ass as we both made an effort to get me off the floor as people shot us odd looks as they walked past. A little girl in blonde pigtails giggled at me as she held flowers in one hand and her mother's skirt in her other one.

"You're out of chakra." He mentioned before he even said hello. My attention shifted from the retreated little girl to him. Ugh. That was such a typical "Sasuke" greeting. Why is he here again? Oh right we crashed. I guess he walked into me because he didn't sense me? But still, how did _he_ manage to literally _run_ into _me_? Was he _not_ looking where he was going? I looked at him. He looked slightly scuffed, tired. His chakra was low too. I took the opportunity to strike, because I _already _felt like ten different kinds of shit and I didn't need Uchiha Sasuke to make me feel worse.

"Well so are you, thankyouverymuch!" I accused back, wiggling my hand loose from his and snapping my finger at his face. Like _he's_ one to talk. He narrowed his beautiful thickly-lashed black eyes at me. I fucking hate his eyes. They're so sexy they're _too _sexy. Leave it to Sasuke to be _that_ person that infuriates you because he's so good-looking but makes you appreciate him at the same time because he's fucking good-looking. Ugh. Honestly…. I'm just not in the mood for him right now. _Why_ in kami-sama's good name is he here?

"I was training with Nara." He defended himself, peeved at my confrontational declaration. He shoved his hands in his pockets. I was starting to catch on that that was one of his favorite things to do. I looked up and down at him. Yes, I was in a bad mood and even though I wasn't in the mood for Sasuke, I still didn't want to fight with him, either… not after how shitty my day has been going. I sighed and rubbed my temple, giving up on being prickly towards him. I was starting to get a headache from dehydration. No. There would be no more bullshit today. Not even from Uchiha Sasuke.

"And I just got done with my third surgery today." I explained trying not to make it sound ike a complaint. My confession seemed to take the edge off of him and he just looked at me before he opened his mouth to speak.

"Come eat with me."

I'm sorry, _what_?

He was looking directly at me, so I was _sure_ he was speaking to me. I still couldn't help but be suspicious as well as thoroughly shocked. My eyes slightly peered around me to check for other people; just in case he really _wasn't _talking to me. I'm not crazy, right? This isn't a genjutsu either, is it? I didn't misunderstand anything, either right? Because Uchiha _fucking _Sasuke just asked me to leave work to go have lunch with him. I still half-believed someone was playing a sick joke on me. Why would he run all the way _here_ from the _training grounds_ to make _me_ eat with _him_?

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms in suspicion. Okay, what was he _up _to, seriously? I think he guessed my thoughts from reading my body language, sorta, because his eyes swept up and down my body but his face remained neutral, like he was silently repeating himself and nothing more. I studied his face to see if I could glean any more information, or perhaps find a motive for his odd askance, but I couldn't read him with that closed expression if I tried. He was just _that_ good at hiding his thoughts, unfortunately.

"What?" I settled on asking the obvious, because I really didn't believe that the Sasuke I know would just leap across buildings and districts in Konoha to come ask me to eat with him. Yeah, no. Sorry. What dream world are you living in? There _has_ to be an ulterior motive or a joke somewhere there.

And just then, my _traitorous_ stomach decided to override my impending interrogation and growled _audibly._ It was _so loud _I'm pretty sure that if Gaara had his window open in Suna he could probably hear it. I wanted to die out of embarrassment. My face felt hot. I was _just_ about to say something really cool too! Sasuke smirked at me, like he had fucking won whatever weird fucking somewhat-battle we were having but not really having. Did he sense that I was about to grill him about his intentions? Stupid stomach!

"Fuck you!" I hissed quietly because I hated it when he was smug about things like that. I don't even know what he just won but he just won something and I lost. Horribly. All because of my loud stomach. I wanted to die of embarrassment and broken pride, but, honestly, I really had no right to be a bitch to him anyway. Sasuke was letting me stay with him _and_ with a frown I remembered that he was right about Suchiru. Ugh… _Sasuke_ was _right_… why, why, _why_ was I actually _upset_ that he was right? Maybe I secretly wanted Suchiru to be a great guy that I could actually date and think seriously about… _maybe_. No actually, _yeah_ that was exactly it. The asshole had fooled me into thinking that I could _date _him and maybe start on a lasting relationship with him… I'm so stupid.

"If you want." He shrugged coolly, his face almost _painfully _nonchalant.

I stared at him. I said "fuck you", right? And he said, "If you want"… As if that was _normal_! I shook my head. Something was… fucked up somewhere today. Somebody had skewed something in the delicate balance of nature because Sasuke was acting _weird. _Maybe Naruto was just rubbing off on him… hopefully.

"Nevermind. Let's just go." I muttered back, trying not to dwell on the fact that Sasuke was more than attractive enough to have sex with since I was on that topic anyway,and just walked past him with hopefully a straight poker face. Silently, he caught up to me and we walked down the hall, out into the main lobby and past the front desk and its ringing telephones. I temporarily ignored my surroundings and Sasuke's presence as I let my thoughts wander to the disgusting, gut-wrenching Suchiru/Yuki scene I witnessed earlier. Unconsciously, my hand went to my stomach, because it made me sick that I believed him… I really, truly _believed _that maybe he liked me for _me. _Already sour, I nearly lost my temper when someone's hands covered my eyes, playfully. I was in no mood for _fucking _games today! Did people just not get that!?

"Guess." was _him_. _His_ stupid fucking sexy voice was unmistakable. Douchebag. Liar. Playboy. Hentai. **ERO! SHANNARO!** I almost lost a grip on my killing intent, but I remembered Shizune's feminine kunoichi lessons instead. Yes… in order to destroy him I would first have to be kind to him. I'd have to make him think he's still in control…

"Ne… I wonder who…" I replied sweetly as trailed my hands up his ribcage, resisting the urge to vomit. I did _not_ want to touch him after what I had seen just _fifteen minutes_ ago.

"S-Suchiru-kun?" I used what little chakra I had left to channel my blood up to my cheeks so I could conjure up a perfectly-timed blush, using Hinata's preferred method of being cute and adding a surprised stutter to my tone. … I'm gonna rip him a new asshole… _soon_. Just you wait, Suchiru… I'm going to take everything you hold dear and break it in front of your stupid, handsome face.

"Ah, good guess! What gave me away?" His hands slipped off my eyes. To his credit he had completely cleaned up after his little "fun" in the recovery ward—since I didn't _smell_ the scent of sex on him at all even at close range— and he even entered from a different section of the hospital. Slick _bastard_. If I hadn't gotten hungry and headed to the break room using the less common route at that _exact_ time I wouldn't have even _known_. I spun around and clasped my hands behind my back, grinning up at him happily.

"Your voice." I winked up at him. Fucker. Asshole. Dickface. Sasuke looked unhappy in my peripheral vision; actually to be honest he looked _pissed_. Whatever. I didn't have a second to give him a meaningful stare to calm him down. I had a whore to lie to. "Anyway, what brings you here?" I asked, leisurely. It helped that I could sense Sasuke's chakra returning to his body. For whatever reason, pretending that I was talking to him instead of Suchiru made me more comfortable and his chakra signature being _there_ right by my side was an extra reassurance that gave me a massive confidence boost. I could _do_ this. I'm not twelve anymore…

"I came here to see you. Would you like to get some lunch?" He asked, adding an artful twinge of hope in his voice that most girls wouldn't be able to turn down. Hah. I'm _not_ most girls, Suchiru… I'll prove that to you… the _hard_ way. Soon….

My eyes briefly slid to Sasuke. He was looking at me with the most neutral expression I have _ever_ seen on his face, the annoyance in his eyes _completely _gone. If you'd cut his hair shorter he would look just like Sai did when we first met him: expressionless. I resisted the urge to smirk at Suchiru, because I was going to turn him down, but I think Sasuke noticed the small quirk of my lips anyway, because his eyes narrowed just a slight bit, and I saw recognition on his features, like he _realized _what I was doing. I think we were… _communicating_ somehow without really using words… Well, that was a first. Is this what it's like to have a _solid_ teammate? Anyway, I couldn't think about that right now. I turned my "sad" eyes back to Suchiru instead.

"Well, you see, Suchiru-san… I'm already going to have lunch with Sasuke…" I made a frown and a distraught face, like I was genuinely upset that I couldn't have lunch with him. Again, pretending that I had to turn down Sasuke, instead, made my act so much more realistic. Hah! I'm a better con-artist than you are, Suchiru! You'll get your share of shit, shannaro! _Soon_….

Suchiru's green eyes flicked to Sasuke, who was _conveniently_ smirking, but it wasn't out of fun or anything remotely innocent. Sasuke looked fucking _smug. _I don't exactly know _why _he was so _obviously_ smug but I decided not to look too deeply into it, because if he made Suchiru feel like shit even the slightest bit, it worked in my favor. Hell, maybe Sasuke was actually _helping _me. Maybe he understood that we were on the same side now? Suchiru narrowed his eyes at my teammate, just slightly. If I had blinked I would have missed it. Tch… Selfish, douchey, self-absorbed _prick_! I'm going to tear him apart… just you wait, _Suchiru... _You want to get nasty? I can get _nasty_. His eyes were on me just then and I snapped back to attention, schooling my features to look apologetic, cowed, slightly stressed— all the things a woman would be feeling if she turned down the guy she liked because she already had plans.

"Oh, no worries, Sakura-chan. Maybe I'll see you some other time, then?" He gave me a charming smile. I had to hand it to him; he _really _made it look like he _wasn't_ offended by Sasuke's smugness, _genuinely_. His ability to lie rivaled mine. I kept up my act and frowned, cutely.

"Well, I still owe you for the tickets…" I trailed off. "We were supposed to go out that night…" I looked down and to the side, allowing another blush to dust my cheeks. I'm horrible, I was really remembering Sasuke's hands leaving a trail of _fire_ everywhere they touched… his eyes only on me as we danced, his smirk as I moved in ways he didn't expect me to… I looked back up, holding onto those memories that made me hot, because I _needed_ to blush and look nervous and all those other things I _should_ be looking like in this situation if it were actually a _genuine_ situation.

Suchiru smiled, reassuringly. He bought my bullshit. Heh. Good. Just keep him going Sakura… only a little more…

"Name any night. I'll go out with you and I promise I won't get sick this time." He laughed at himself. "Sorry about that, by the way. Did you have fun, anyway?" He asked quickly as he "recovered from his embarrassment". I hate liars. Liar. Liar. **LIAR! **

"I had _a lot_ of fun actually!" I smiled, because _fuck _him, I _did_ have fun. Yes, it was with Sasuke and Sasuke was a jerk sometimes, but at least he was a brutally _honest _jerk! Hah! Thanks for funding my "I'm friends with Sasuke" celebration, jackass! I felt like sticking my tongue out at him. Inner did it for me instead and I was temporarily satiated, still keeping my composure, miraculously.

"But anyway, how about we go out tomorrow night? I have one more shift here tomorrow morning and then I'm off for two days, so how about it?" I smiled as genuinely as possible, pretending that I was smiling at Naruto, instead, and Suchiru smiled back. _That_ smile was real. It was _satisfied_. It wasn't happy. It was _satisfied_. There's a difference between the two. In his mind, I was playing right into his ulterior motive, which was simply getting into my pants. Too bad for him that he was playing right into mine.

"Sure, where and when?" He asked, almost _too_ quickly. But again, Suchiru was an artful liar. He had paused _just_ long enough. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Sasuke was leaning against the wall next to us, one foot up against it, arms leisurely crossed. He was watching me carefully. Studying. I was certain he knew what I was doing. I kept my focus on the man I wanted to dismember, this was where I would set up the trap.

"Hofuku, where we were originally supposed to go." I winked. "Just you and me this time though, ne?" I laughed huskily and he nodded, subtly.

"I'll be by to pick you up tomorrow, then." He promised.

Wait what? No! If he did that he'd realize I'm staying with Sasuke! I smiled coyly to cover up my panic.

"How'd you know where I live?" I playfully pushed his shoulder and he gave me a charming smile.

"I have my ways." He shrugged mysteriously, a twinkle in his eye.

"How about you meet me at the Konoha gate instead at ten?" I suggested optimistically, with a grin. I was surprised my stomach miraculously wasn't announcing to the world that I was starving. I blushed as I felt Sasuke's unrelenting stare on me. I felt his gaze practically burning into the side of my face.

"Sounds good, beautiful. Ja ne." The blonde shunshinned, disappearing in a cloud of dusty ash. I counted three seconds before I was sure he was gone and far away enough for me to have a private discussion with Sasuke. My Uchiha teammate spoke before I could even turn and look at him.

"What are you planning." It wasn't a question. So he had me figured out, as I thought. I turned to him and I saw him with crossed arms and a cocked brow. I gave him an apologetic frown— a genuine one— before I explained anything to him, because I owed him an apology.

"I owe you one, Sasuke." I told him, because I was honestly wrong for being violent towards him and defending Suchiru like that, assuming Sasuke was just being an asshole that time in the hospital. Of course, Sasuke, being _Sasuke_ he narrowed his eyes at me. I rolled mine, because he was a sadist and he wanted to hear the full version of my thoughts.

"You were right. About what you said…" I started. "About him…" I looked over and his onyx orbs were as endless and mysterious as always. Shit, I _really _had a thing for dark hair and dark eyes. My heart fucking skipped and started beating faster, because he smirked, almost _proudly_, not of himself, but proud of me.

"So conning him and being sweet to him is a part of whatever you're planning…" He concluded almost sadistically, like he couldn't wait to see what I did to him. Heh. We were on the same page there…

I gave him an evil smirk in response.

"Oh yes… it's an _integral_ part of what I'm planning." I agreed in a promising deadpan that would have made a genin shiver. "Lunch?" I smiled brightly, just then, getting right back onto track with _our_ plans.

"Hn." He nodded.

We continued on our way and made it out the sliding front doors of the hospital, out of the A/C and into the heat of Konoha's spring/summer season. It was still technically spring but Konoha was always a little on the warm side. I decided to continue what I was saying in the hospital.

"But really, I owe you big, so what do you want?" I asked once we were outside. Because as soon as I had access to my wallet I would get him something nice to make up for threatening to break his arm. "If it's a fresh-tomato vending-machine that will satisfy your desires, then I'll get it for you. No joke." I laughed at the idea of Sasuke actually asking for one. That would be hilarious. He fell completely silent, however and his lack of response made me slightly nervous— a bad habit that suddenly crept up on me from way back in our genin days. I looked over at him to gauge his thoughts because I was _not_ twelve years old anymore and I'd figure out what's in his head if it _killed _me. He was staring ahead, seemingly lost in thought. I elbowed him to bring him back to reality. He dodged and spun out of the way of my elbow, falling right back into step as if he'd never been assaulted in the first place— a trait he had obviously picked up from Kakashi-sensei.

"I was still paying attention." He assured me neutrally. I shrugged in response.

" And I was just making sure you were…" I responded. I waited three seconds but his lack of response was killing me. "Come onnnnn I don't have all day! Decide already." I reached over and shoved my finger into his temple and pushed on his head, like I often did when I wanted to annoy Naruto. It was weird to be playful in the same way with Sasuke, but he was my friend now so I'd have to just get used to it eventually. He grabbed my index finger with his middle finger and moved to twist it, but to his lack of surprise I spun my entire body in tune with the way he twisted my finger so in the end he just ended up holding my finger with his. He managed to look mildly impressed. I took that as a complement and gloated.

"What? You're not the _only_ one with decent evasive maneuvers." I smirked and shrugged confidently. He let go of my finger and smirked back. We continued walking down the dirt road, the birds signing livel tunes despite the heat.

"I'll let you know what I want when I want it." He responded cryptically. "But you can't deny me what I want when I tell you. That's the only rule." He explained in an authoritative tone that suited the baritone of his voice.

"That's not fair." I shot back, because he would wait for something _fucked up _to happen before he asked for favors. It could be _years_ from now and he'd probably ask me to baby sit his _fucking _bratty kids and remind me of the time I said I owed him big. No _way_ was I going to let something like _that_ ever happen.

"It's perfectly fair." He countered calmly as we reached the market, but made a left instead to reach the street with all of the restaurants on it. We passed a few places I wasn't really interested in eating at.

"No it's not. It's too far in your favor." I calmly explained as I spied around for someplace good to eat. My stomach rumbled again. Sasuke smirked at it. I shoved him. He swayed, but didn't retaliate. We kept walking, getting odd looks from the people enjoying the weather outside of a café with glasses of ice-cold green tea in hand. I was happy to be away from their prying eyes as we made our way further down the long, wide street.

"Explain." He simply replied.

"Okay, well, there's not enough limitations. For instance, it could be years from now and you'll probably ask me to babysit your bratty kids or something horrendous of the sort… _Or_ you could make me do something that will ruin my future like, I don't know, make me fight to the death for the honor of the Uchiha clan name or something." I shrugged; both examples were lame but they still made my point.

I found him looking at me incredulously, as if I had two heads. I blushed.

"What? I factor in _everything_." I defended myself. Sasuke was sneaky. Owing home something— anything that didn't have rules and regulations attached to it, anyway— was a bad idea.

"I get your point, but since _you_ owe _me_ I think I'm entitled to get whatever I want whenever I want." He persisted in typical Sasuke fashion.

"You can get whatever from me, whenever as long as A) It's feasible, within my power or finances to gain, and it's reasonable, and B) It doesn't cause me lasting unhappiness or ruin my future. … Oh! And C) You have to tell me what I owe you within the timespan of six months starting now or else it's void. Agreed?" Those were fair stipulations right?

Sasuke mulled my terms over and shrugged.

"Hn." He responded calmly.

"I'll take that as a yes." I smiled.

"Where are we going?" He asked, without missing a beat.

"I don't know, or really care. At this point I'll settle for eating dirt if I have to. I'm _starving_." I commented unhappily. Sasuke smirked, amused at his own thoughts and I chose not to pry into them. Suddenly he raised a finger and pointed at a quaint little onigiri stand. I smiled. I _loved_ onigiri. It was the perfect lunch and the little stand had _sushi_ too!

"Onigiri again?" He suggested and I was instantly reminded of the snack we had after our night at Hofuku. I smiled more at the positive memory and the bench and the walk home.

"Sure." I agreed.

We walked over to the stand, operated by a young girl about our age. She looked sweet and had piercing cerulean eyes and chin-length, ashy-brown hair. She wore a red headscarf tied cutely like a headband beneath her hair and a white robe.

"Welcome!" She smiled and I waved. Sasuke took the second barstool from the left and I sat on the edge, taking the last barstool on that side of the counter. A song I liked was playing from a radio in the background. I gasped.

"Eeeeeh!? Is that Ryotaro singing from Shounen Nin!?" I asked and the girl laughed.

"Actually, yes it is, are you a fan?" She asked. I blushed. Was I ever! Ryo-kun was the sexiest civilian man alive. He had the muscle tone of a ninja without actually being one!

"Of course!" I replied.

"Well, not every man trains with professional shinobi." The girl winked. "My name is Hatsuhiko Koto. What can I get started for you; you both look starving." She smiled and even acknowledged Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't say anything in response, but I almost _drooled_.

"Sushi…. And two salmon onigiri, one with tuna, please." I ordered seriously, because I was _more_ than ready to eat.

"You got it! And for you, sir?"

"The same." Bleh. Sasuke was being boring. We watched Koto work as the song played in Ryotaro's sexy, deep voice. I put my chin on my fist, dreamily thinking about what it would be like to meet him in person.

"You know…" Koto spoke to fill the silence. "Ryo-kun has stated in an interview that he specifically dates Kunoichi…" Koto grinned. I blushed. So he had a _thing_ for kunoichi, huh?

"Maybe that's where he gets his physique from… they probably train with him…" I mused. I saw Sasuke roll his eyes from the corner of mine but I ignored him.

"Hey, come to think of it, aren't you Haruno Sakura?" Koto asked. I looked at her and nodded.

"The pink hair gave me away, huh?" I smiled. Sasuke huffed a quiet laugh at my expense that only I could hear. I sent a quick glare his way before I looked back at Koto. He was only laughing because he didn't have to deal with being a shinobi with _pink_ hair. It's really tough enough as it is shannaro!

"So you're a kunoichi _and_ a famous war hero and medic. Maybe you should get a backstage pass, to one of Shounen Nin's concerts, ne?" Koto winked and I laughed. That was silly, but entertaining as a thought nonetheless. I would _never_ use my status to lure in a guy like that. I was above that but it was still funny to think about.

"You dream big, Koto-san!" I giggled. Koto smiled.

"My little sister is a _big_ fan of yours, Sakura-san. When we moved here a year ago she joined the academy with the intent of becoming a combat medical nin like yourself! You wouldn't mind if I told her you both like the same singer, would you?" She was so sweet there was no way I was telling her no.

"Of course you can tell her. Also, pass along that when she becomes a genin I'd be more than happy to give her extra lessons at the hospital if she needs them. Just give me her name. I'll remember."

Koto blushed, eyes wide, surprised at my proposition.

"Oh wow… Her name is Miri. Thank you!" Koto stopped making our food and bowed for a moment. I giggled.

"There's no need to bow. There's a constant need for iryo-ninja that can fight. Anyone that's up to the task is always welcome to give it a shot." I explained. "I plan on opening up a school for such individuals… when I get the money and the time to do it." I explained softly.

"That's a beautiful dream, Sakura-san." Koto smiled. "Here you both go! I'm going to go clean up. Enjoy!" She handed us our dishes— both identical— over the counter of the bar, bowed again and disappeared behind a curtain to give us privacy— something that stand owners usually never did. It was very respectful of her. I smiled at the blue and white curtain she disappeared through.

"Dobe and I aren't the only ones famous." Sasuke commented as he split apart his chopsticks. "Itadakimasu." He stuffed a piece of sushi into his mouth. I believe it was red snapper. I laughed at his comment.

"Well, when you impale yourself on Uchiha Madara's weapon and proceed to repeatedly punch him in the face I think it makes an impact." I grinned and split apart my sticks as well. This was the first time Sasuke and I ever brought up the war. I was nervous. Sasuke nodded above his plate and swallowed.

"How do you plan on helping Yamanaka meet his demise?" He skillfully switched topics, for which I was grateful for… maybe he didn't want to talk about the war either. I grinned wryly at him and bit into my onigiri. On accident, I groaned.

"Sweet kami-sama and everything that is sacred on Konoha lands… this is _delicious_." I explained after I swallowed. Sasuke shook his head because I _was_ being over-dramatic about it. "Oh and I can't tell you what I'm going to do. All you need to know is that it's going to hurt where it counts." I replied matter-of-factly.

I saw his legs twitch on instinct.

"And for the record it may or may not involve physical pain, I don't exactly know yet." I shrugged. Did he have to assume I was just going to kick him where it hurts? I could do much worse and lasting damage than that to his pride instead.

"What tipped you off? You were drooling over him a week ago." Sasuke insulted casually in that almost-smug tone. I kicked his ankle with my foot and smiled as he hissed in pain and growled, but didn't retaliate. I'd like to assume he was well aware that he deserved that one.

"I saw him fucking one of my nurses in the recovery ward." I casually commented back and immediately turned to him in concern when I heard him choke and cough. A piece of sushi or rice must have gone down the wrong pipe. Sasuke had his hand on his chest. One good chakra-laced smack on his back loosened the food stuck in his esophagus. He coughed for a moment before he turned his bewildered onyx eyes to me. I retracted my hand and continued eating my onigiri, calmly, even though the memory made me want to gag and take this onigiri and shove it right into Suchiru's fucking deceptive face.

"Never put me there if I'm ever unconscious." Sasuke threatened in a deadpan and I had to laugh at his choice of words. I wasn't expecting him to say that. I was actually expecting a, "Hn. I told you so" or something like that.

"I might just let you amaterasu the room and say it happened on accident." I laughed again. Sasuke chuckled and continued eating.

"He's a good fucking liar." I frowned and put down my food, not hungry anymore. It was the first time I was willing to open my heart to a Konoha shinobi and he fucking ruined it for me… I had shitty luck. I really didn't feel so hungry anymore…

"You're a better one." Sasuke replied and I looked up at him, confused. "You spin a partial truth into the lies you weave." He clarified and I realized he was talking about my technique. I was able to use memories— or truths as he put it— to make my act more believable. He had noticed. Leave it to Sasuke to notice something like that…

"I hope it helps. He deserves it for being a jackass…" I commented and continued eating. I wasn't going to starve myself because a dumb guy ruined my already shitty day. "Anyway, how was training with Shikamaru?" I asked. Sasuke shrugged.

"Regular." Sasuke replied. I smirked.

"He gave you a run for your money, in other words. Shikamaru isn't a chakra factory like you or Naruto, but he knows how to use his head. I suppose it was a good game of real-life shogi?" I asked knowingly.

Sasuke nodded. The silence stretched between us as we ate. I wasn't uncomfortable. After spending a few days with Sasuke I was used to him. I actually _liked_ the fact that he was quiet. Nowadays I was too tired to engage in meaningless conversation. Dating guys was sometimes even a pain because of that. They needed as much attention as a woman. I smirked as I remembered a Kiri civilian that I had accidentally called "Ino" because he was so chatty. He had blushed and narrowed his eyes, confused. Needless to say I ruined that date, effectively.

"Why did you have three operations this morning?" He asked.

I blinked at the sushi on my plate. His question surprised me. I looked over at him and answered mechanically out of astonishment.

"Two were planned. One was an emergency. Anbu are idiots." I growled and bit into my onigiri, still astounded that my formerly stoic teammate was making a slight effort to talk to me.

"Why is that?" Sasuke asked.

"They crashed through the window of an operating room and threw glass _everywhere_ thinking it would _help _their teammate because they delivered him right under my nose, but if they had just gone through the front entrance I would have been able to begin operating immediately. Instead we had to pick glass off of them all as we moved them. _Oh_ and the glass shards got stuck in his wounds too. Idiots." I rolled my eyes. Oh and by the way, Sasuke, the anbu that was dying looked hauntingly like Neji did when he was dead on the battlefield and scared me half to death. Yeah, I _wish_ I could tell him that… I could see Sasuke narrowing his eyes at his onigiri before he bit into it, chewed and swallowed while I worked on my sushi pieces.

"He survived?" He asked after he chewed and swallowed.

"Yes, he's alive." Thank kami-sama. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. I remember looking at the seal on his forehead every thirty seconds to make sure I wasn't touching a dead Neji. I shuddered. Fuck. Sasuke noticed.

"What?" He demanded.

"Nothing, just a chill." I replied in a relaxed tone without missing a beat. Lying was becoming an easy thing nowadays… I used to be a shitty liar. You learn not to be that way when you've been kidnapped by a team of disgruntled nukenin seeking honor by killing war heroes. My wit had gotten me out of that one alive and unscathed, thankfully.

We finished our lunch in peace and Koto was out just in time to take— ugh I can't believe I'm going to say this— … just in time to take _Sasuke's _money. Despite my financial discomfort, I grinned and asked her to wish her little sister well for me and said that I'd be back another time. She smiled and waved at us both and bid us farewell, thanking us for our business… well… _Sasuke's _business. Is the week over yet? I miss my wallet… and my freedom. I really do. It's not like I piss through my money, but it's nice to grab myself lunch if I need it… _without_ needing someone there to pay for it for me. I realized I was still in my labcoat when the sun began to beat extra hard down on my head. Slightly miffed with the heat, I took it off and draped it over my arm.

"We should go see the laundry obaa-san tonight… with the cupcakes." I smiled. Sasuke sighed, but I understood that his sigh was more like a full-on groan, at least for someone like him who doesn't express himself much. That was something he was _not_ looking forward to. I giggled.

"Relax, I'll be there too. She likes me." I shrugged and offered.

"She poured bleach all over my clothes once." Sasuke muttered and my heart sank to my stomach. I felt a sickening weight on my chest; it was as if I had just seen a puppy get kicked. That… was fucked up… I really didn't feel like going there anymore. I glared at the dirt road beneath my feet as my anger rose from my stomach to my chest. I felt my pulse quicken with the violent emotion.

"Fuck it, maybe I'll just get you a mini washer and dryer for your birthday…" I grumbled trying to stay positive. I could feel his gaze on me.

"No, let's go." He argued in a neutral tone.

_What? _

"What? Why would you want to? I didn't know she did _that_. If you had told me I would have said, 'screw it!'" I glared up at him next to me and he just shrugged, impassive and almost _lackadaisical_… like Kakashi-sensei… as if it didn't really _matter_ that this woman went out of her way to abuse him in the only way she could. I frowned. His eyes slid to me and my heart did that weird flippy thing again before beating faster. I told it to stop. I couldn't think about how attractive he was fucking being. I was mad right now.

**Fu fu fu…**__

My inner cackled at me and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"The cupcakes will be for nothing." He reasoned. Cup— _cupcakes_!? The _cupcakes_ will go to waste? Fucking who _cares! _Little kids deserved them more than that woman did! She poured _bleach_ all over his clothes just because he's _Sasuke_! I must have been gaping because he narrowed his eyes and pinned me with a glare. I think we stopped walking.

"I spent minutes covered in chocolate while _you_ showered." He accused venomously sounding more like the Sasuke I was familiar with. "We're giving her the cupcakes." He commanded and we continued walking. I didn't have time to argue as I moved to catch up with him. Wow, we _did_ stop at some point. I didn't even notice. He has that way of just _looking_ at you that makes you stop. I sighed to myself. If he didn't want his efforts to go to waste then… whatever.

"Fine." I settled. A small, tiny, smile graced his lips. He was genuinely satisfied. Sasuke walked me all the way back to the hospital. As we entered through the automatic doors and into the cool A/C I put my coat back on. My staff members looked at us both peculiarly and I _knew_ what thoughts were running through their minds.

Sasuke was here. He had been here to find me about forty-five minutes ago, found me, pulled me away _on my lunch break_ and brought me back with only a minute to spare. What do _you_ think they were thinking? It was obvious. I glared at them. _No_ ladies, for the record, I'm _not_ getting hot and heavy with Mr. Last Uchiha over here. He's _just_ a teammate. I shot a glare at Kimi, specifically; a violet-eyed blonde who giggled as she practically _skipped_ past me. Kimi was a nurse's assistant. She had a big heart and even though I was superior to her she loved to poke fun at me in a loving, big-sister kind of way since she was a few years older. I would hear about this from her later. Ugh… I stopped at the corner where the curved front desk met the wall and so did Sasuke.

"When will you be done?" He asked, casually crossing his arms as he leaned against the main desk that reached his shoulder in height. The secretary at the front in the rolly-chair with her dark brown hair up in a bun shot me a mischievous smile. I _tried_ not to blush because I _knew_ what she was assuming. Why the _fuck_ was Sasuke being so… public? Was that the word for it? Everyone _knew_ that he was single. Everyone knew that _someone_ –meaning _he_ – had to start making Uchiha babies at some point and everyone damn well knew that I was his former teammate— the girl he left on a _bench_ the night he left. This was _so_ embarrassing!

"Um, evening." I vaguely responded, getting nervous. He narrowed his eyes at me. _Not good enough_. I already saw his thoughts on his face. I shot him a desperate look. He was intent on getting a _proper _response. Seriously, what the _fuck_ was up with him today? "Like seven." I supplied in a quieter tone. A family swept past us. A man, holding his wife's hand with his daughter in his other arm. The secretary looked from the family to me. My panic increased. What if— what if they started a _rumor_!? Sasuke's eyes swept the bustling room quickly to see what I was so paranoid about. Shit. He noticed I was freaking out, internally at least. Jashin _damn it_, he was sharp!

"Do you want me to cook instead?" He asked when he refocused on me a split second later. I mean, I _knew_ he was just trying to be helpful but _fuck_ did he have to ask me _here!? _ I nearly died of embarrassment because now rumors would spread like _wildfire_ and it was probably already too late to stop it. Please, _please Kami-sama_! I hope my face isn't red. Nanako, the secretary behind Sasuke, widened her eyes at his words. She scribbled something down on a paper really quick as the second secretary, Jun, a brown-eyed, sandy-haired girl walked past her. Nanako tugged on her skirt and she whirled around only to find Nanako's finger on the paper she had scribbled on. Jun's eyes widened when she read what as on the paper and I _noticed_ them shoot over to where Sasuke and I were standing. Her eyes met mine. I glared. _No _it's _not_ what it looks like. Ugh…

"Do you feel like cooking?" I asked, tensely. "I know you don't like to…" My heart was hammering in my chest. I watched as Jun scurried off. It was like someone hammered the final nail into the proverbial coffin. Now rumors would _definitely _spread. I wanted to _kill_ Sasuke for extending the conversation _and_ for bringing it here to the edge of the half-moon-shaped front desk where people could stick their noses into our business. I suddenly felt his hand on my shoulder and I realized I wasn't looking at him. I was looking at the corner that Jun disappeared behind. I jumped, not expecting his touch and the warmth that came from it. Shit! Did he say something? Did I miss something? I looked up at him again, apologetically.

"Why are you tensed out?" He asked, frowning. He didn't understand. At least, he made it seem that way. Did he really not know what he was making this look like? Or did he just not _care _what it looked like because it really wasn't what it looked like. Actually, that made sense. If Sasuke doesn't care, why should I? I relaxed instantly. Screw them. They could think what they want.

"Um… no reason… I think I'm a few minutes late. I'm worried Tsunade-sama will be angry." I frowned, thinking of my shisho's temper and need for punctuality. It really wasn't a problem for me to take an extra five, sometimes ten minutes on my break, but I had to find something to latch onto to effectively lie to him. He nodded his agreement. He believed me. I had covered my stupid thoughts up effectively.

"I feel like it, so I'll take care of it." He then mentioned, returning back to the topic of who would cook tonight.

"Okay…" I responded and nodded. To be honest, I was actually _excited _for what he would make. I'd never had anything Sasuke made and I wondered if it was any good.

"Ja-ne." And his hand slipped off my shoulder, familiarly, slowly, and purposefully, and he walked away. I waited for him to be completely out of the vicinity before I dropped back against the wall and shoved my hand into my hair. I freaked out for no reason. My heart was still beating violently and I didn't know exactly why. My pulse had sped up and a flash of heat spread across my body when he touched me, _especially _when his hand just slipped off of my shoulder like that. I really _really _had to stop thinking like that. It _really _wasn't right.

**You know as well as I do that you want him touching us… it's nice having his hands **_**everywhere**_** isn't it? Last night was nice too… **

Shut up. Shut up shut up shut _up! _

**Don't you remember? That's the same shoulder he rubbed to comfort us while we were falling back asleep… **

My eyes widened.

No… that… that was a _dream_, stupid!

**Or was it…? **

Fuck. Nanako's giggles reached my ears. I turned angry eyes towards her, thankful for the distraction because Inner was starting to freak me out.

"Ehhhh, Sakura-sama, it seems many Konoha shinobi have eyes for you, even the hard to get ones…" Nanako winked.

"I-It's really not like that!" I snapped but I felt my face get hot anyway. "You better go tell Jun that you got the wrong idea! It's cruel to embarrass people over circumstantial evidence!" I pointed my finger at her dramatically . She shook her head and laughed.

"Jun is a silent one. You shouldn't worry." Nanako reasoned. I glared at the thirty-something year old, but then sighed, too tired to deal with the crap. Again, whatever. They didn't matter. Sasuke was right. Who cared about their opinions? I knew the truth. That was the most important thing.

"I'll be in my office." I excused and retreated to the administrative part of the complex, heart still _traitorously _hammering in my damned chest, and Inner laughing the whole way there!

-X-

YAAAAAAY! FINALLY I MANAGED TO EDIT THIS! I've been wanting to edit this _so _badly for like _ever. _I'm kind of glad that I waited so long to get back to it though because I was able to view this chapter with fresh eyes as I read it. To edit effectively and catch every mistake you wrote you kinda have to forget what you wrote, in a sense. I'm proud of this chapter. I think I wrote Sakura well because she was angry and hungry and tired this chapter and those are feelings I can easily understand. I don't know I want you guys to tell me what you think. I want to hear from you so hit me up with reviews! : )

Disclaimer: I don't own shit. I don't make money off of this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	16. Laundry Service

KISEKI

|16|

OMG GUYS! You have to check this _awesome_ cute Sasuke/Sakura fic! It's called **Changing Skies **by an author called **flowerslut**_**. **_It's by far the cutest thing ever if you're into Sasuke being a daddy. It's not corny or really OOC so go read it if you want to read something long, complete and juicy. I found that it was pretty well done!

Anyway! YAAAAAAY! A Sasuke chapter. I've got to say I look forward to these. It's mentally relieving to write as Sasuke. Lol I love his character. Enjoy!

-X-

I smirked as I exited the hospital. Sticking my hands in my pockets, I leisurely made my way down the dirt road. "Step one" was successfully executed. I had _successfully_ convinced Sakura's coworkers and friends that _maybe_ there was something between us. That made her nervous. That was a relatively _good _sign. It proved that she _wasn't_ unaffected by me like she liked to pretend. I had confirmed that she hadn't been able to erase our history from her mind, though she did do a damn good job of not talking about it. I doubt she still had any _concrete_ feelings for me, but the inklings of emotion were still there somewhere; left over from our genin days. They were still _there_. That was important, because now I'm _sure_ her coworkers will bug her about those "maybe feelings". Women like to gossip about things like that. Ino was living, breathing proof of that theory. And, Sakura is definitely a woman. She wasn't impervious to other women's babblings and if that kind of talk steered her mind towards the thought of _maybe_ letting herself love me again, then_ maybe_ I would have a chance with her.

I decided to visit my brother's grave, unsure if I was doing the right thing by digging up the past between myself and Sakura. On my way there, I thought over my day while ignoring the curious, nasty, or dreamy stares I often got from the villagers. I was tired of seeing their mixed opinions on their faces. I had spent a few hours sparring with Udon this morning, which Nara happily interrupted because he was bored and wanted a challenge. I had made him fight my unofficial student, because I wasn't in the mood for his mind games, but because he ended up winning, it became my turn to entertain him. So I did. We sparre stubbornly and relentlessly and it was a good test on what I should and shouldn't waste my chakra on during battle. It had exhausted me. For some reason, as I was lying on the grass next to Udon and Nara, I thought about food. Naturally, reminded me of Sakura and I realized she had no money and hadn't taken any food with her to work. I forced myself up and to the hospital at that point without much of an explanation, reminding Udon to meet me at the same training field tomorrow morning. I ran through the streets still dizzy and high from adrenaline and eventually ran into Sakura… literally. When I realized how many women were looking at us, that's when my plan struck me.

Of course Yamanaka had to put his disgusting hands on her, but the way she smoothly lied to him made up for the rage that started to churn in my core again. Somehow, she had seen the ugly mish-mash of colors beneath his charming façade. It was apparent that Sakura hated liars as much as I did. I was pissed when she told me she had spied him sleeping with a nurse. I was proud that she had remained calm when she explained what happened. I don't know why I expected tears from her, but I was glad to see she wasn't wasting any on him. She was going to give him hell and the asshole fully deserved it.

Speaking of that coincidence, it seems like kami-sama decided to make my life a little easier. It was a _miracle_ and a slim chance that an_ anbu operative_ was actually _caught _having sex in a hospital, no less. Well, granted, it took another anbu— Sakura— to catch him, but regardless the scenario actually _happened_. The timing must have been perfect— again, a one in a million chance. Whatever, the point is that I won't have to lift a finger to make him suffer now. Sakura will just do it for me and I would get to enjoy watching the results with no blood on my hands. Secretly, I'm hoping she'll rip his dick off. He _did_ threaten me, though she doesn't know about that…

And, regarding Sakura, she had said she owed me something… Honestly, was I planning on holding her to that when the right moment came? _Yes_. Did she effectively stop me from doing that? To my misfortune, _yes_. Sakura was intelligent enough to take that much power over her away from me. She was cunning and knew not to trust me with something like that. But let's be honest, I probably _would_ selfishly make her live with me for the rest of our lives just because she owed me and that's really what I wanted. Hn. She thought I'd wait years and make her babysit at the end of it all… I could _definitely _do much worse, if staying away from me is what she was hell bent on accomplishing. If she hadn't put stipulations on that agreement I'd probably use it as a last resort if I couldn't win her over the old-fashioned way. Are you surprised? That's how shinobi work— we have plans and we have back up plans and more back up plans for the back up plans. Either way, I still get a favor from her in the end as a token of apology. She had damn near broken my arm, so I better make the favor count.

As I came upon the graves of the old Uchiha compound, I was surprised to find Kakashi there, still in his anbu gear. If I had to guess, he got back earlier today and was late in delivering his mission report and Tsunade most likely didn't care so he was taking his time. He noticed me _long_ before I joined him in front of Itachi and Obito's pristine stone pillars and _long_ before I noticed him.

"Yo." He greeted in his usual fashion, his one eye crinkling familiarly. I unconsciously took a breath. This was going to be the conversation that helped me decide what I would do from now on, regarding Sakura.

"Hn." I responded, contemplating on what I should say. I needed his advice like a thirsty man needed water. I decided to get right to business. I was never good at making small-talk anyway.

"I need to speak to you." I started carefully. He shrugged in his usual nonchalant manner.

"I figured." He replied, hands in his pockets, much like mine were. Of _course_ he figured. Kakashi always knew what was in my head before I ever vocalized my thoughts. I stopped being embarrassed about that a couple of years ago and learned to just appreciate it. I'm not exactly social and it's hard for me to verbalize what I'm feeling or thinking. These last four years have taught me that if I was having a problem it always helped for Kakashi to just _know_. It made my life easier. It made the problems easier to fix. I sighed and stared at my brother's picture. I would be a liar if I said I wasn't nervous.

Itachi… I really wished for him to be here with us; he always just _knew_ everything too. Of course, I was grateful to have Kakashi, don't get me wrong. I just had to wonder what would have happened had I not killed nii-san. Would Tsunade have dug up the truth and stopped the bounty on his head _and_ his mission? Would Danzo have gone to finish him off before any of that could have happened? Would we have fixed everything in time for him to come back and get his illness treated? I had no doubt in my mind that Tsunade, Sakura and Shizune would have been able to find a cure for whatever he had. I frowned at the grass and flowers in front of his pillar, regretting taking his life, even if that was what he wanted in the end. Life was better than death. At least if you're alive you can fix things. Nothing changes when you're dead. Your story just stops and you bring misery to the people who care about you. Kakashi's hand on my shoulder shook me from my depressing thoughts… It made me smirk, because I figured he _knew_ what I was thinking about.

"So are you going to talk or should I just start guessing?" He asked and then placed his hands back in his pockets once he realized he had my attention. I took a deep breath, because my next statement was going to be self-reflective and it would knock him off his feet. In fact, I probably should have asked him to sit first, in-case he wasn't prepared, but whatever…

"I think I like Sakura." I hoped he would understand what I meant; that I _definitely _liked her and didn't know if I was four years too late at this point. He was quiet for a few moments. I was tense. I didn't know what he would say. This time I was _sure _I had caught him off guard. He wasn't expecting _that_… I looked over at him, nervously, abandoning my brother's pillar with my eyes. I studied his blaze expression. He looked bored as always, but I knew him better than that. He was thinking; _calculating_. Maybe he _did _expect it? Finally, _finally_ he just shrugged some minutes later, like it was whatever, which it fucking wasn't.

"Okay." He responded.

_Okay?_ _That's it_? I think he sensed my frustration. We looked at each other. His one dark eye met both of mine. I realized through his body language that he wasn't going to say anymore. I narrowed my eyes to express my annoyance with him.

"I need more than that." I stated. I need to know if I'm fucking up, Kakashi. Tell me if I am. You're the only person that always had the balls to tell me my mistakes before I actually made them.

"What more do you need?" He questioned. "If you _think_ you like her it's not my business to tell you what to do with your thoughts." He shrugged again and I got his point. He wanted me to be honest with him and myself. The tenseness left my shoulders. Okay… so he was making this a social learning exercise… because? … Maybe I'd _need_ it later? I felt confused by his actions.

"I _do _like her." I clarified. "I just don't know if it's healthy for her for me to tell her that." Kakashi's eye seemed to twinkle in satisfaction. I'm pretty sure I started glaring at him. I didn't like Kakashi's games. I sucked at them. And I didn't like games when I was being serious, but this is usually how our relationship worked so I shut my mouth and waited for him to respond.

"Aaaah. Now _that's _an entirely different scenario." He commented, waving his hand lazily like it was a big deal. "So you've noticed that Sakura's changed… not entirely in a good way, either." He studied me for a response. So Kakashi knew that she was having issues that she was hiding, whatever they were. I nodded. Yes, Kakashi. I like Sakura and the person she came to be, but she's becoming an alcoholic and having chronic nightmares for reasons unknown. Would I help her or hurt her by pursuing her in a romantic sense? Use your father-figure powers and figure it out because it's embarrassing for me to outwardly say.

"Well then best of luck to you, you're going to need it. The amount of walls she has up around her are astounding. Ja-ne." He turned to leave… He fucking turned to _leave_! Glaring, I grabbed the sleeve of his dark shirt before he could even turn the other way. No fucking _way_ was I going to let him get away with dropping _that_ bomb and just _leaving. _No. He looked up at me, his one visible eyebrow lifting curiously and creating a surprised expression on the one-fourth of his face that I could see.

"I need your input." I practically growled. He _knew_ that! Why was he playing the fool?

"I _did_ give you my input." He shrugged again.

"It's not clear enough." I shot back.

"And neither are you." He responded meaningfully. Yes. I had communication issues. We've established this long ago, possibly on the day we first met. I narrowed my eyes because even though he had made a good point I still needed a straight answer. I stressed about talking to him since last night, so he would stay here and give me legitimate advice even if I had to nail his toes to the fucking ground and wait four weeks to get it. He seemed to read my body language pretty well because he sighed and I saw his one eye roll.

"You want me to tell you whether or not you're making a mistake by involving yourself in her life again... as a possible romantic interest." He drawled as if he were bored of torturing someone already. Good. _Finally_,we were getting somewhere. That was exactly what I wanted him to understand.

"I don't want to hurt her." I added to his statement, confirming what he said with a nod first. "You need to tell me if I'm making a mistake." I clarified, deciding to be straight-forward like he was trying to teach me to be.

"So long as you have her best interest in mind I don't think you're mistaken. All I can say is that you should tread carefully. Sakura isn't the same girl you left on a bench when you were twelve. She's been through… _a lot_ these last four years, especially after the war. Some of her thoughts or actions may surprise and even anger you, but I guess you're the only one left who can maybe get through to her, Sasuke." He shrugged. "Kami-sama knows we all tried at some point."

"Why didn't you tell me about what happened between her and Naruto." That was the last thing I needed to know before I let him go. My grip loosened around the fabric of his shirt. I let go of him and he tried to smooth out the wrinkles my hand caused in his sleeve with no success.

"Honestly, Sasuke, it wasn't my business to begin-with. I didn't get involved in it myself and if you knew you would have stuck your nose into it out of obligation when the time wasn't right for you to do so. You would have screwed it up worse and I didn't want that for you or them. Naruto was Sakura's breaking point. She hasn't improved since." Kakashi explained thoroughly. I nodded. I understood his judgment. It made sense. He stuck his hand up in a short wave and disappeared in a blur of leaves and wind. I turned back to my brother's grave and ran a hand over my face and through my hair, taking a deep breath. That conversation was more open and stressful than I wanted. Usually I let him do most of the talking.

I exhaled as I scratched my scalp. Okay. Kakashi approved. I wasn't necessarily fucking up or opening closed wounds, but he was right, I was going to need a hell of a lot of luck to get back into Sakura's good graces. I also couldn't just outwardly tell her how I felt, either. Not only would that be uncomfortable, but she probably wouldn't believe me anyway. I think I turned green just imagining myself opening my mouth and her laughing at what came out of it. I shuddered. I'd have to _show _her how I felt first. Actions spoke louder than words. I'd also have to gauge how she felt first before I even acted, as well.

Nii-san… Fuck. I really wish you were here. For the first time in a long time I felt alone again. Kakashi was helpful, but he had thrown his hands up and left it to me in a way, which made sense because it was _my _problem that only _I _could fix, but still. It would be nice to hear, "Oh just go for it Sasuke, everything will be fine, she still feels the same about you as before." I imagined the sentence in his voice. Hn. If only it were that easy. I couldn't even really go to Naruto about this because… just because it was a sensitive topic, especially since they had a _thing_ kind of...

I _still_ didn't really know how I felt about that. I was still mad. At Naruto. For being there when I should have been. But the reason was entirely stupid and immature. It was more out of jealousy and self-deprecation anyway. I'd have to just let it go. It wasn't healthy. I was going to win her back, nevermind that Naruto had even helped me by moving me in next to her. If he hadn't done that I wouldn't have realized what I felt. He was, as always, being the bigger person and naturally just doing the right thing. I should just let go too. He was fucking helping me get the woman he loved. You didn't get any more heroic or self-sacrificing than that.

I sat down in front of my brother's grave and rested my cheek on my left fist. Once I had that settled in my head I felt better; much less angry and much more peaceful. A warm breeze blew by and I pushed hair out of my face in annoyance. How the hell did Itachi deal with his hair being so long? Granted, he had always tied it back, but my bangs were touching my chin at this point and I was starting to feel like my mother. Despite my aggravating hair, I smiled at the memory of my mother. She was buried at this memorial as well, except her pillar was deeper in the former compound than Itachi's because she had died sooner.

I remember how she used to always know what I was up to. When I was sneaking around she knew. When I was distraught, she knew. When I was cooking up a trap to set for nii-san, she knew. Hn. Some days she even helped with the traps when there wasn't too much housework to be done. Those were the days I always _almost _got him. Somehow he managed to evade them all, even _with_ my and okaa-san's combined sneakiness. She would just shake her head and comment on how Itachi was skilled beyond his years. I remember the reading and writing lessons she began with me as soon as I was able to speak and hold a pencil correctly. Those were fuzzier memories because they were _so_ old, but I still remembered them. I clung to them because they were _happy _memories, of which I have few. I even remember the one time she hid in the house when I was three to see if I had any natural sensory skills. When I realized I was alone and searched the _entire_ mansion without being able to find her I had wailed in the living room next to the bored family cat because I thought I had been abandoned. That was when she appeared and just hugged me, apologizing for the "mean test" she gave me.

"_Gomenasai Sasuke-chan. Mommy was just giving you a small test. Your nii-san got the same one when he was your age!"_ She had winked and I remember sniffling and asking her if he'd passed it. She had chuckled and shook her head. Looking back, that was probably a comforting lie because by the time he was four, Itachi was already kicking ass in the third war probably before he even set foot in the academy. I smiled at my brother's grave. He was always ten steps ahead of me. He's dead now but I probably would _still_ never catch up to his level. Regardless, I'll always look up to him and who he was.

"I'll do my best to catch up, nii-san, like always." I promised, and then stood to go find my mother and father's pillars. Deeper in the memorial park, the trees thickened and the warm, breezy weather persisted. It was the perfect day to visit family and just relax on the grass. After a few minutes of walking, I reached my mother's grave and smiled at her picture.

Her strength and skill was probably always noticed second to her beauty. Itachi and I were fucking lucky. I mean, I'm not one to gloat, but if it weren't for our mother I don't know if we'd look half as good. I looked over at my dad's stern expression on his pillar. I hated to say it, but I realized the last several years that I'm a lot fucking like him. Yes, Itachi may have _looked _more like him, but _I_ definitely acted like him. I wasn't as cold and success-driven as I remember him being throughout my childhood… well, at least _now_ I'm not— but I _definitely_ kept his stubbornness, maybe even his foolishness if I were to take a _deep_ and grandiose psychological look at myself. I wonder how he ended up with kaa-san… They never told me the story, but I probably never asked because I thought it would be frowned-upon. Then I frowned as the thought that it was probably an arranged marriage shot across my mind. Was Itachi's future marriage going to be arranged too? I frowned again. I remembered Obito telling me that Itachi had killed his lover during the massacre. I wondered which girl he fell in love with but there were too many pillars to search through and find her. That was a task for another day. Maybe I'd ask Kakashi. He had worked with Itachi in anbu. Maybe he knew.

I wondered if otou-sama would be proud of me, or disappointed beyond belief at this point. If that night never happened, would he be upset with me having feelings for someone who wasn't Uchiha? I smirked. Actually, it would be just like him and I to disagree about something like that. Itachi would have probably dutifully married the woman he loved and become the new clan head and I would have given them all the finger and done whatever I'd liked, with kaa-san's support, of course. Itachi would silently work and pull strings in the background to make sure I had the leisure and leniency to continue doing whatever I wanted for as long as I wanted as well. He'd probably get Shisui-nii in on it too. I smirked as I sat in front of my parent's graves, crossing my legs and then leaning back on my hands. I missed the overbearing presence of my father, to be honest. It always gave me something to strive for when I was a child. Kakashi was really lax compared to him.

I had a feeling that if Otou-san were alive we'd probably argue a lot. Kaa-san would probably get along well with Naruto and Sakura. She was always king and reassuring. I think I missed her the most. She _always _knew _just _what to say and even when to say it. She knew Itachi, otou-sama and I better than anyone else who had come into contact with us. And expertly, she was never on any one of our bad sides. Ever.

Come to think of it, I _never_ saw my parents fight. I saw my brother and father hiss at each other like angry cats, but I have never once seen anyone fight with my mother. I actually couldn't even imagine her career as a kunoichi before she had us. I couldn't imagine her violent, though, I remember that as a kid she _did_ have her scary moments when I wasn't good. I chuckled because I remembered the one time she smacked my hand with a wooden spoon when I reached for dinner before otou-san got home. I remember being more surprised at how _fast_ she had moved than upset that my hand was stinging. Nii-san seemed surprised too.

I stood up, the memories beginning to make me ache for my family, and bowed to both of their graves respectfully. I decided to visit Shisui's pillar next, just because I remember him _always_ being goofy. When I reached his pillar, I put my hands together and bowed low. Out of everyone, even Itachi, he probably had made the biggest sacrifice. Danzo stole his eye when he tried to stop the coup himself. That fucker had tried to have him killed for his own agenda. "Protect Konoha in his own way" my _ass_. He had left his will to Itachi and died without seeing peace.

"I'm sorry you had to do that." I remembered him throwing himself off of the cliff into the raging Naka river as if it were my own memory. I shuddered. He had left it all to Itachi and Itachi had finally left it all to me. I had no one to leave it all to. I was the last one of us standing. I had helped destroy Madara. I had helped Naruto stop his evil bullshit. I had to wonder… would Otou-san or Okaa-san or Nii-san encourage me to continue our lineage? Or would they advise me to let it die?

I frowned. Out of pride, father would have told me to do it "or else", definitely. Mother would have just smiled and promised to help if the time ever came for me to be a father. Itachi? … I don't know how Itachi would have responded. _"Do whatever you want Sasuke"_. Yeah, he'd probably say that. _"No matter what you decide from now on, I'll always love you." _His last words echoed through my mind. I sighed and shook my head at Shisui's picture, in which he was grinning. His grin was infectious and I found myself smiling back. Whatever. I'd do whatever because… whatever; Itachi would have wanted me to make my own choices, so I will.

I waved at Shisui's grave and walked away. Passing through the memorial park and back to its entrance, I waved at my father, my mother, then at Itachi and Obito. I'd be back another time, next time with more stories to tell. Shisui would laugh at what Yamanaka had coming to him… I'd have to make sure to tell him first when Sakura finally told me her plan.

-X-

When I got home, I kicked off my shoes, then immediately went to my desk in my room and pulled out a blank paper and a pen. It was about time I gave Naruto the push and the response from me that _he_ needed… Sitting down at the quiet kitchen table, I began to think of how to write this...

"Sorry dobe, but you know that if you shove I shove back…" I mumbled, then activated my sharingan and began to write.

_Hyuuga Hiashi-sama, _

I grimaced at Naruto's scratchy handwriting coming from my hand, but at least it was accurate. I studied the paper with red eyes. What to say? What would Naruto say? More importantly, how would he say it?

_As the future of Konoha, I am writing to ask your permission to formally court your eldest daughter, Hyuuga Hina—_

I crumpled up the paper in aggravation. Hiashi wouldn't believe that. The fucking daimyo, as empty-headed as the man was, wouldn't fucking believe that. That wasn't Naruto at all. I rolled my eyes and sighed, running a frustrated hand through my hair. Thankfully, I took an extra paper with me. I ripped that one to shreds, and threw the tiny pieces of paper into the air. I ignited them with Amaterasu and watched as they burned in mid-air, disappearing from existence. I pulled the flames back into my doujutsu and refocused.

_ Hiashi-sama_

_I, Uzumaki Naruto, future rokudaime of Konohagakure am asking to date Hinata-chan. Officially. Let me know what you think. _

_-Uzumaki Naruto- _

I smirked. Short, blunt, somewhat-thought-out and respectful in a kind-of/sort-of way. That was more Naruto's style. I folded up the note, placed it in an envelope and headed out, smirking like I had just won a game of shogi against Nara. It only took me twenty minutes to enjoy the entire walk to the Hyuuga compound, drop off the letter in their main mailbox, and then smugly walk _all_ the way back to my apartment. If Hiashi asked, enough people saw me to assume that I was personally delivering the letter in Naruto's honor as his brother and best friend. Hn. Dobe was going to be pissed when he found out, but it would be worth it because it would set him straight and let him know that I was going to make an effort in Sakura's direction. I frowned, hoping she wouldn't shut me down, because from what I've seen of her, she seems kind of over me.

Back at my apartment, I started contemplating what to cook for dinner. I didn't like cooking, but Sakura wasn't going to be able to stand straight tonight, let alone make any food, so I went over the dishes I knew how to make in my head. It occurred to me that I didn't know what dishes Sakura liked. I knew she liked onigiri and _not_ spicy things… but I didn't know what she would prefer to make for herself. The past few nights she'd been making a lot of meat and vegetables that contained a lot of protein only because she knew my body needed it.

I glared at my kitchen stove. This was already becoming a nightmare and I hadn't even started yet. I looked at the clock. It was _already_ six. Apparently I had spent more time than I thought at the Uchiha memorial. I had to think of something and _quick._ I remembered the dinnerbox she made me before she realized I was her neighbor. It was balanced. Just enough of everything. Maybe she liked to eat that way? Fuck. I knew she liked anmitsu. Should I make anmitsu too?

Stop. Just stop, Sasuke.

I scratched my forehead beneath my hitai-ate. I was overthinking things. It was _just_ food. I opened he cabinets and the refrigerator to first see what the hell we had in stock for me to cook. Then I deflated because Sakura had bought _everything_ we could possibly _ever_ need, leaving me with too many option to choose from.

Jashin, _damn it_! She never made _anything _easy. We had enough fucking food to last us through a siege and an apocalypse should any of those ever happen. I rolled my eyes and the idea just hit me. Oyakodon. I'd be making oyakodon. You can't hate a bowl of rice with meat, vegetables and salmon roe on top. It was safe. I wasn't a safe person, though, so I smirked. I'd take a risk and make my mother's miso to go along with the oyakodon. For Sakura's sake I'd leave the spices out of the miso, though I personally didn't want to. My mother's miso was delicious, but her _spicy _miso made by _her_ would probably convert Naruto from his Ichiraku ramen obsession, hands down.

"Okaa-san... I'd like your help if you can give it…" I mumbled the tense prayer and looked at the clock. I had spent fifteen minutes of my already short time thinking. Wordlessly, I got to work.

-X-

I had turned the stove off at around half-past seven and covered all of the food. To my aggravation, Sakura wasn't home yet. Of _course_ she wouldn't be home on time the one night I had to cook. I glowered at the clock as if it knew the answer to why she was late. Actually, Sakura was _never_ late. I washed my hands as concern touched my thoughts. Had something happened? I looked over at my door. I didn't hesitate to slip my shoes on, grab kusanagi and head out to find her, leaving the steaming food behind.

I hopped across rooftops, running faster than I intended to. The streets were quiet, but that was average for this time of the evening… _everyone_ was eating dinner. Everyone except Sakura and I. Frowning, I pushed myself to go faster and finally ended up at the hospital. A genin boy with wild brown hair and blue eyes sat at the main desk with the same secretary that was there earlier in the day. Both of them jumped in surprise when I just _appeared_. The secretary recovered first, probably used to shinobi antics by now. The boy began to grin in amusement when his shock wore off. His blue eyes looked determined to become just as fast as me one day.

"Oh, Uchiha-san." The brown-haired woman greeted with a professional smile. "Looking for Sakura-sama?" She queried then with a hint of mischief in her tone. I smirked. Hn. Good. She remembered earlier today. I secretly hoped she also remembered to grill Sakura with questions and beat it into her head that she should consider me as well, but that was just a side-thought. My main concern was finding Sakura and making sure she wasn't passed out somewhere. I nodded at her.

"She's in her office doing paperwork." The woman smiled and then turned back to the genin boy, instructing him to file something in alphabetical order. The boy snapped his attention back to his D-rank mission and continued filing.

I unintentionally narrowed my eyes at the woman before leaving. What the hell was Sakura doing paperwork for a half hour after she was supposed to be home? Wordlessly, I turned and moved down the hall to my right, where I had walked with Shizune to Sakura's office before. Once the people in the hallways had thinned out and I was relatively alone, I broke into a run. Yes, running in hospitals was not wise nor was it really allowed, but I could care less. I reached her door in under thirty seconds. I knocked on it.

No answer.

Aggravated, I ran around in the administrative halls, found an empty room used for some paperwork I didn't really care to look over and climbed out of the window. Now outside of the hospital, I scaled the concrete wall, walking on it sideways and found the window to Sakura's office. It was the only really large one in that wing with blinds over it. I tried to push the window open but damn Sakura, it was locked. I could see a faint yellow glow beneath the blinds so I knew she was in there, she was just… _unresponsive_ for some reason. I did not like that she was unresponsive and unsealed my lockpick set from the seals on my arm-warmers. It took three tries and two broken picks but I fucking managed to unlock the infuriating thing. Sealing away the tool set, I slid open the window, the screen and the blinds and found Sakura with her face buried in her arms, thankfully _breathing _on her desk.

Her pink hair spilled all over the paperwork that now slightly rustled in the breeze. I activated the sharingan without thinking and found that she was completely tapped out of chakra. She had fucking overworked herself. Pissed at her lack of self-concern, I shut the screen, the window and the blinds and walked over to her. She had blood stains on her previously pristine white labcoat. I grimaced at that, but shook her shoulder anyway.

"Mmm~no~mm.." She lifted a heavy arm to swat me away but it just fell back to her desk with an audible thump. She resettled her head on her other arm, messing up her paperwork and I cringed at the position she was hunched over in. Her back was going to kill her when she stood up straight again. I would have to hear to complaint. Wonderful.

"Sakura." I sternly spoke, but still kept my voice low. She was tired, and I _did_ somewhat feel bad for waking her. She didn't respond so I shook her shoulder again.

"No Shi'zne~mm…" She slurred again. I glared at her. I was _not _Shizune and I would _not_ be dismissed by her. I leaned closer to her ear. Maybe she'd hear me in her head.

"Sakura. It's not Shizune. Wake up." I deadpanned. Her eyebrows crinkled.

"Hmm~whaa?"

…

Two seconds later her eyes flew open and she pushed herself away from her desk and me so fast she toppled her chair over. With a shriek I watched in slow motion as she fell backwards with the chair, reaching out desperately for something to grab onto. Without thinking, I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the chair and into me. I stumbled backwards and hit the blinds and the glass behind them, Sakura safe against my chest. Her head snapped up and she looked at me with wide, jade orbs.

"S-Sasuke? How'd you get in here!?" She seemed bewildered. Then, she blushed, probably realizing why I was here. "Shit! What time is it?" She hissed more at herself than me.

Her eyes snapped over to the clock above her bookcase. It read 7:45. She looked at it in horror, then looked back up at me.

"Shit! I'm so sorry! I was so tired and I fell asleep and I had paperwork and it was soooo boring and—

I picked her up, not really caring to hear her excuses, even though she made it amusing. I knew she had a full workload and I knew she didn't intend to leave me hanging. I ignored her startled shriek as I easily lifted her and held her against me.

"H-Hey! Put me down! I can walk!" She argued. I smirked. Nope. For making me wait, I would make _sure_ people had the wrong idea about us so they could badger her for me in the future. I walked towards her door confidently, despite her struggling against me.

"S-Sasuke! _Stop_!" Her green eyes widened in horror when she realized what I was going to do. I held back my smirk and tried to play "innocent" as I bent forward, with her in my arms, and tried to open the door. I had just pushed the lever down and began to pull the door open when she lunged forward and body slammed the door shut with her torso. The door shut with a loud thump and because I didn't want to drop her I pitched forward and hit my _fucking _head on the door she was still leaning as much weight as she could against. We were now both awkwardly pressed against this door, her panicked breaths filling the silence between us. I glared at her as she sat red-faced in my arms, one of her hands clinging onto the molding, and one of her shoulders rammed against the wood.

"What was _that_ for?" I glowered because there was no reason for my head to get slammed against that door, hitai-ate lessening the damage or not.

"I can walk on my own." She vehemently argued. "And you deserved that for not setting me down." She pointed up to where my forehead protector was still touching the wood of the door with her free hand.

_What? _No I fucking _didn't _"deserve" that. If anything she deserved being paraded through the hospital because she allowed herself to become over-worked and miss dinner!

"You can barely stand up straight. You have no chakra and I can feel you shaking." I listed off her weaknesses instead, giving her reasons to let me carry her and she glared at me _harder_.

"I can walk." She repeated stubbornly.

"No you can't." I repeated back just as stubbornly.

"Yes I can." With her nose practically up in the air.

Tch. Childish.

"No you can't."

I couldn't help but dig my heels into the ground too.

"Sasuke put me down." She commanded in an authoritative tone.

"No." I refused blatantly.

"Put. Me. Down." She was getting pissed.

"Or what? You'll make me?" I challenged with a smirk. There was no way she could make me. She was out of chakra.

She growled and pushed off the door throwing all of her weight onto me and pushing me back. I realized I was still holding onto the doorknob and clung to it so I wouldn't fall backwards.

"Fuck!" I shouted when I forgot that you had to _pull_ the door towards you to open it. I ended up falling onto my back, throwing the door all the way open in the process, and groaning as Sakura's forehead connected with my collarbone and as the back of my head connected with the floor.

The sound of giggling reached my ears. I felt Sakura's hands fist in my shirt in aggravation.

"Sakura-sama! Are you all right?" A female voice reached my ears. It sounded too jovial to actually be concerned. I looked up to see Sakura on top of me, horrified, angry and embarrassed at the same time, as a short-blonde-haired nurse walked past the door next to her long-brown-haired coworker. The coworker giggled.

"Don't worry Kiki, I think she's in good hands." The brunette reasoned as Kiki, the blonde snickered.

"I think you're right, Ai!" She agreed.

The two giggled all the way down the hallway and I couldn't help but smirk. Mission accomplished. Again.

Sakura looked like a tea kettle about to blow its top. For some reason I was more amused than afraid.

"RRRRRRRSASUKEEEEEE!" She shouted and twisted herself so she was sitting on me. She held onto the front of my shirt with one hand, and pulled back her fist. She punched and I caught said fist before she could even visualize it connecting with my face. I kept smirking because it was comical to see her mad and unable to do much about it. Come to think of it, she didn't even have her weapons pouch on her; it was on her desk mingling with her paperwork. It made her angrier that she couldn't hit me, so she blindly tried to punch me with her other fist after letting go of my shirt. I caught her other fist in my other hand and now had my arms crossed in front of me in a perfect defensive position. Her face was pink with embarrassment and her green eyes were narrowed. I smugly cocked an eyebrow.

"Not my fault you wanted to throw me off balance." I shrugged beneath her because we were caught like this because of _her_ not me... Then I looked out into the empty hallway, hearing more footsteps coming down it. "You should close that unless you want more people to see." I suggested in a deadpan. Blushing, because we _were _in a pornographic position, she lifted one of her legs to push the door shut with. I waited for it to slam before I used her shift in balance to throw her off of me and roll myself on top of her. Now _she_ was pinned to the floor, her wrists above her head, looking up at me, surprised. She then glared and struggled beneath me, but she got nowhere so she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and sighed instead.

"Ugh fine, you fucking win. Just get off so we can go home and eat. I'm too hungry for this shit." She finally grumped. Satisfied, I released her wrists and rose to my feet. I held my hand out for her to take, which thankfully she did without much of an argument. She swayed a little when she stood and I held onto her to make sure she was all right. I glared at her because my point was made, she _wasn't_ really good to walk, but she shot me a stubborn look so I relented and decided not to start the argument over again. Besides, I no longer needed to parade her through her workplace in my arms. I had two nurses who had clearly seen her on top of me purely on _accident_. Yes, she would have much thinking to do because there would be much talk about her and I _very_ soon. It was like planting seeds properly so they could grow into the kind of greenery I wanted.

I opened the door and stepped aside, waiting for her to go through. She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and walked through, pulling off her labcoat as she did so. I exited her office after her and shut the door behind us, watching as she pulled her identification card off of the labcoat and began walking down the sterile hall.

"You never told me how you got in there." She started. I smirked and debated on telling her. I felt her eyes on me and I saw her glare. She was in a bad mood.

"Don't be secretive about it." She warned. I decided not to piss her off more.

"I knocked and you didn't answer so I just picked open the lock on your window." I explained.

"Oh. Was it hard to pick?" She asked, curiously. I wondered why but didn't ask.

"I broke a few picks." I shrugged. She smirked.

"Good." With that I saw her throw her labcoat into a large laundry cart in the main lobby. The secretary looked at us and winked. Sakura shot her an unforgiving glare and I just ignored her.

"Oyasumi Nanako." Sakura deadpanned behind her shoulder.

"Oyasumi, Sakura-sama!" The woman chirped _too _cheerily. I fought to keep my face blank. Whatever, if Sakura was mad that I was here picking her up then it was her own fault for falling asleep and concerning me with her whereabouts. After about two minutes of walking away from the hospital, Sakura stopped.

"Is the food you made getting cold?" She asked, and when I looked at her she looked aplogetic, and guilty. I didn't want to lie, so I nodded whether it made her feel worse or not. I really didn't want the food to get cold before we could eat it. She lifted her arms up and I understood. I stepped towards her, put one arm behind her legs and the other around her back. Once she as securely resting against me, I shunshinned so quickly we were at my apartment in just twenty seconds or so. I set her down and unlocked the door. To my pleasure, the food was still slightly steaming. Sakura immediately got to work and started setting the table, but I wasn't going to have any of that. With my luck she would pass out at just the wrong time, drop and break my dishes and then cut her face when she fell on them. She reached upwards but I took her forearms into my hands and placed her arms back against her sides. She turned her head to look at me, and glared.

"Just sit down." I let her go, grabbed her shoulders, turned her around and pushed her to the side. I could hear her make an annoyed noise but she decided against arguing and I heard her sit at the kitchen table instead. She watched in annoyance as I set the table quickly, put all the food into our bowls and even poured the still-hot tea. Good thing I had the sense to make everything _extra _hot when I made it and made my trip to pick up Sakura relatively quick. I sat down and watched her smile at her bowl of oyakudon.

"Itadakimasu!" She exclaimed excitedly, her aggravation with me temporarily forgotten, and dug in before I could reply. I smiled down at my own bowl of food and began to eat as well. Minutes stretched on and Sakura was silent as she voraciously ate. I purposefully took my time, sipping my tea idly in between bites. How was I going to put my thoughts into words? I knew that even though she was obviously content with the food she was going to be angry with me for treating her like a weakling earlier. I had to say something _now_ while she was still happy to smooth that over.

"I didn't want to carry you because I think you're weak. I wanted to carry you because it would've been faster." I commented, leaving out the fact that I wanted to embarrass her a little as well. She needed to know that I knew she was strong; that I _respected_ her strength. "I also didn't want you to drop and break any dishes. I know you're overworked." I explained in a deadpan because I wanted her to know that I'm not oblivious to her lack of chakra, hunger, or fatigue. I'm not an idiot.

She paused and a light blush dusted her cheeks. I listened to her as she swallowed what was in her mouth.

"Thank you, Sasuke." She murmured in an apologetic tone and continued eating. I didn't press the issue any further and continued to eat as well.

"More surgeries after lunch?" I asked now that that was squared away. She nodded, though she didn't verbally respond. She got to work on the small bowl of miso next to her emptied bowl.

"Mmmmm!" She exclaimed as she tasted it. My fucking chest tingled at her excitement. I wish it would stop doing that when I didn't expect it to… I felt my pulse quicken too. I wanted to be annoyed but I didn't really have time for any internal reflection because she spoke again.

"What's in this!?" She asked, looking at me with her bright, green eyes. I smirked in response; I wasn't about to give away my mother's secrets… not yet at least. Just then I quickly prayed that Sakura would never find the cookbook hidden away in the top cabinet of my kitchen. My mother's little comments and notes were still written in it. I was grateful to Kakashi for fishing it out of my house after the massacre. He had given it to the third hokage to give to me, but the old man told him to "keep it until the time was right". When I came back to the village, after the war ended the cookbook was his gift to me. I smiled at the memory. On some of the pages she had noted who liked each dish and who didn't. I used to get depressed every time I read "add diced tomatoes for Sasuke" at the bottom of some of the pages. My mother was always thinking of me when she was alive…

"It's secret." I explained professionally with a shrug and went back to eating. She threw me a dejected look but happily returned to eating the soup anyway. Not long after we finished eating I had forced her to sit and watch as I did the dishes. I don't even remember how I won that argument, but somehow I did. Actually, I kind of didn't win yet, because she was _still _arguing.

"You know, I'm okay now. Let _me_ finish the dishes. I really just needed some food, I swear." She nagged from her spot at the kitchen table. I ignored her and scrubbed, adding more dish soap to the sponge.

"Sasuke, this is the second night in a row you're doing dishes. That's not fair." I knew that. I still ignored her, rinsing the bowl I was working on.

"Sasuke, you're taking for_ever _and we still have to go do laundry." I hated her logic because she was right, but she was annoying me and I had already made my decision so I just continued to ignore her.

"Sasukeeeee. Stop being stubborn." Yet she made no move to physically remove me from the sink knowing it was futile. I ignored her.

…

…

…

…

Finally. There was silence. I allowed myself to focus on finishing up the dishes. For some reason, the task relaxed me. I inhaled and exhaled like I often did during meditation and relaxed my shoulders a little. I had closed my eyes for a split second. That's when I felt a pressure on my wet hands. I jumped, dropping a small soup bowl in the sink. I whirled around to find myself face-to-face with… _not_ an enemy shinobi. I exhaled. It was Sakura. Just Sakura, with water dripping from her hands, down her bare arms. She was _fucking stealthy_. Especially when she was depleted of chakra. I was partially to blame too, because I had allowed myself to completely relax. She had snuck into my personal space and tried to take my hands off of the dishes. Stealthy. Fucking stealthy. I didn't know why my heart was hammering in my chest, though. I knew I wasn't afraid. I felt… excited? I _liked_ that she had no issues with touching me. Realizing where those thoughts would take me, I abruptly turned back around and picked up the bowl I'd dropped. I inspected it. It wasn't broken. Good. I continued washing.

"You're so fucking stubborn." She sniped and I could imagine her standing behind me with her arms crossed, a hip popped out in a feminine position full of attitude.

"I know." I replied neutrally working on the tea cups after setting the one soup bowl on the drying rack. The water rushed out of the faucet in a steady stream, filling the few moment of silence that followed my response.

"Let me do the fucking dishes." She tried again, this time vehemently. I shut off the water and placed the last cup on the drying rack.

"They're done already. Get the cupcakes." I ordered as I dried my hands on a rag and moved towards my bedroom to get the laundry.

"Tch." She grumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "fucking stubborn Uchiha" and walked towards the refrigerator. Entering my room and facing "the pile" I realized that I would need a storage seal to get all of the laundry out of my apartment and to the Laundromat. There was no _way_ we would ever fit any of this in just one or two laundry sacks. Rolling my eyes, I opened one of the drawers of my desk and grabbed a spare seal. I placed it on the floor and starting sealing small pile after small pile into it until eventually "the pile" was sealed and not a single article of clothing was left behind. I shoved the seal into my pocket and stepped out of my room. Sakura was already waiting at the front door, the cardboard box of four cupcakes in hand. She turned around as I approached and opened the door.

"You actually needed a storage seal?" She grinned after I slipped my shoes on. We stepped out one by one. I shut the door behind me, feeling my face get hot. _Yes_ I needed a fucking storage seal… for my fucking dirty laundry. Then I realized she was just making fun of me to get back at me for the dishes. My eyes narrowed. This could get ugly if she wanted it to go that way… I already had a comeback ready, so I unleashed it.

"Yes, _your_ underthings added to the amount of clothes as well." I deadpanned. Suddenly, she looked _horrified_. I chuckled to myself in my head, but settling on smirking at her. She deserved that one.

"Hentai!" She shoved me hard and I let out a short laugh at her expense, but continued walking anyway.

"You walked into that one, Sakura." I explained, because really, what did she _think_ was going to happen when she teased me?

"You could have reminded me to separate my clothes from yours!" She hissed, peeved.

I shrugged, dropping the joke because I already won this one and I didn't want the walk to the Laundromat to be tense.

"They're just clothes. Relax." Because really they _were_ just that. Clothes. Now if I had seen her naked? That's another story. Personally, I didn't feel a woman's clothes were something forbidden to look at; not at this point in life anyway. If you ask me, what's underneath the clothes is what counts.

She didn't respond and silently, we walked across the street once we were outside and down the block a little. We came upon the Laundromat and found it still open, as it should be at this hour. The wicked old woman was there. I took a breath as I spotted her through the window. It was _much_ easier dealing with shinobi than civilians. If a shinobi pissed me off, at this point I could probably just punch him and things would be settled after that. It wasn't the same with the civilian population. They didn't get me and I didn't get them. It didn't help that I wasn't a very social person, either. Regardless, I followed Sakura through the door. The bells jingled as she walked through, a huge but forced smile on her face, despite how angry I knew she was with the woman.

"Welcome! Ah! Sakura-chan it's always a pleasure to see—

The old woman was round, and had grey hair in a top knot. She wore a traditional navy and red kimono with traditional wooden slippers. Her grey eyes landed on me and she stopped talking, mid-sentence. I felt my body tense up and prepare itself for her to start spitting fire at me more out of habit than actual expectation.

"Why are you in _this man's_ company, Sakura-chan? I thought you knew better?" The woman ignored me and just continued talking to Sakura. I saw… _hatred_ flash through Sakura's green eyes for a split second. I think I stared at her in awe even after she had squashed it. That much anger and… _hate _just didn't belong in her eyes. In my mind Sakura was always either laughing or crying… never… _hating_. I frowned.

"Obaa-san, Sasuke is an important teammate of mine. I came here, because I know you've heard the rumors. To be honest, Sasuke saved my life in battle many times. I'd like it if you two could start fresh, ne? We baked you some cupcakes together to start off on the right foot." Sakura explained softly and gently, as if she were talking to a difficult child. I applauded her acting skills in the back of my mind as I watched in fascination as she handed the box over to the old woman, who carefully took it. The woman sighed and turned to me, the box in-hand.

"Is what she says true?" The woman asked. I could tell she was going blind but nevertheless I'm pretty sure she could make out my face just fine. I kept my expression neutral. I didn't want her to know that I was actually nervous. This is the first _actual _conversation I'd ever had with the woman.

"Aa." I replied in a deadpan.

"Very well, Uchiha Sasuke. You can call me Noriko. But if I find you causing trouble of any sort, I'll ban you from here. _Both_ of you." She pointedly looked at Sakura who feigned surprise.

I narrowed my eyes and Sakura giggled to cover up for the awkward tension in the air.

"Obaa-san, you know I would never!" Sakura smiled almost flawlessly, but I knew it wasn't her _real_ smile. "In any case, thank you for understanding! Enjoy the cupcakes! I know they're your favorite." She even winked to seem more innocent to the elderly woman. I was now fully impressed with her ability to handle people.

"Arigato, child." Noriko placed a hand atop Sakura's and smiled at her. She nodded towards me and waddled away to go put the cupcakes in her back room.

…

I guess that went better than expected?

Sakura whirled towards me and sighed, running a hand through her hair. She seemed stressed before she stuck out her hand.

"Come on, hand over the seal." She asked, but I walked over to a laundry cart, instead. She grabbed another one and wheeled it next to the one I grabbed. It was a good idea too, because we'd _definitely _need more than one. I placed the seal inside the cart and poured chakra into it. The laundry appeared in a large, tall pile and fell over into the cart next to it, some articles of clothing falling onto the floor with a muffled thump. There was _so_ much laundry… I just _didn't _have the will to look at it anymore… Sakura bent over and picked up a few of my shirts that had fallen to the floor. I saw her look at the Uchiha fan on the back of one of them as she contemplated something.

"Maybe we should just separate the dark colors from the light ones and just wash it all together…" She finally mumbled, holding some of my shirts in her hands. She was going to hate this laundry trip as much as I was… but it needed to be done.

"I was planning on just stuffing as much laundry in each machine as I could…" I admitted, much to my shame.

"It's tempting…" Sakura agreed, but we both knew we were too meticulous to do something like that. I think we sighed in unison before we both started separating each article of clothing by color. She took her reds and pulled out the whites. I separated everything black or grey into a third cart. The sorting process took only a few minutes. I think we both momentarily forgot that we had an extra set of hands to help. This would be _nightmarish_ if either of us was alone... I was grateful for her help.

I smirked as I came across a lacy, plum thong, and a mischievous thought accompanying it. I slid my gaze over to Sakura. She was still diligently pulling out the red and white clothes, focused entirely on the task. I hooked one end of the lacy undergarment onto the edge of my thumb. I pulled the other end as far back as it would go and aimed it at her. When I released the tension on the surprisingly stretchy garment, it shot across the short distance between me and her and hit her square in the temple. Surprised, she caught it on instinct, trapping it against the side of her face. When she looked at it I swear her face turned as red as her shirt.

"Sasuke you asshole!" She hissed in a whisper, to not alert the old woman that we were definitely up to no good. She shot me an evil, green-eyed glare and I smirked back at her. Lightning fast, she grabbed a pair of my boxers from the cart in front of me— these had a silver shuriken pattern on them— and proceeded to try to whack me with them. I dodged her efforts about three times before I sensed the old lady coming back from the back room. I let her hit me across my shoulder with them and quickly went back to doing the laundry. Sakura went back to "acting normal" as soon as the old woman returned, abandoning my boxers in the cart she found them in. Not long after Noriko walked back away, Sakura decked my shoulder, hard when I wasn't paying attention. Despite being chakra deprived, she still _almost _gave me a dead arm. I glared at her.

"You didn't have to hit me." I whispered harshly.

She stuck her tongue out at me.

"That's for looking at a girl's panties, _hentai_." She whispered back. I rolled my eyes.

"As if I'd never seen a woman's underwear before." I quietly argued back.

"My underwear is special." She hissed back and I looked over at her curiously.

"How so?" I asked. Suddenly she grinned over at me and stuck her tongue out again.

"It's a _secret_!" She mocked, repeating my words from earlier tonight. I had to admit, her comeback was good.

"Hn." I allowed the short laugh to escape before we picked four separate washers to put our laundry in. Four. We needed_ four separate washers_. One for the white clothes, one for the red clothes, and two for the dark clothes. I would _never_ let this much laundry build up _ever_ again.

Being the only people here at this odd hour, I realized that Sakura and I had taken up all of the new washers that Noriko had installed. I smirked. Well at least this was going to be an _efficient _laundry trip. The newer machines worked faster so we wouldn't have to stay here for long. She was holding out her hand in front of me and I suddenly realized that we needed to buy detergent and get change for the machines. Wordlessly, I pulled out my wallet from my pocket and stuck a twenty-gold bill into the palm of her hand. She nodded in silent thanks and went into the back room to find the obaa-san. She came back out with a drawstring bag full of change and a large container of unscented detergent.

I poured the detergent while she loaded up the machines with silver coins. She hit the start button on each machine one by one and left a cart in front of each one. We moved over to a sitting area in the corner with comfortable green and blue lounge chairs. In front of the chairs was a small, round, black table, on which rested a neat pile of relatively current magazines. Sakura picked up a magazine directed towards the female civilian population. I read the cover as she flipped through the pages quickly and sat on a large, cushioned chair.

"One hundred and three sex moves that will blow his mind?" I deadpanned in disbelief. I had to see this for myself. Sakura looked at me oddly and flipped the magazine back over to its front, as if she hadn't even noticed that. She checked the page number and starting flipping through the magazine to find the article. I pushed her over in the comfy chair as I settled in next to her so I could see over her shoulder. I caught images of shoes and handbags and other vapid things that I don't even think Sakura really cared about.

"You can tell me which ones are bullshit." She commented in regards to the article she was looking for. She finally stopped on the right page. I shrugged in response. For now this would be entertaining. I was curious as to what the media was fooling women into believing.

"Number one; 'I love it when women shout in a foreign language; it creates tension and—

"Bullshit." I interrupted.

"But that's more of a matter of opinion, Sasuke." She assuaged professionally.

"Bullshit. Next." I drawled in a bored manner and relaxed into the chair. I decided that she would read and I would just listen as I stared at our laundry rolling around in the soapy water on the other side of the room.

"Whatever, that one was from Kenji of the Crescent Moon Island." I felt her shrug next to me. She was warm and the chair was _just_ big enough to fit us both with no room to spare. She felt nice against me. I realized I was looking forward to sleeping with her again.

"There aren't that many foreign languages anyway." I replied, growing curious about number two.

"Number two; 'While I was reorganizing my shuriken, my girlfriend walked in the room completely naked and just took me'. Reiju of Wind Country." She articulated and then paused. I realized I had closed my eyes. I cracked open one eye to look at her.

"What?" I asked. Why was she silent?

"Bullshit or not?" She asked.

Oh. No that one wasn't bullshit. That would get any man up in under a second. Surprise was a woman's greatest weapon during sex. Reiju— whether that was his real name or not— had a point.

"Not bullshit." I closed my eye and continued relaxing. "I'll let you know if it's bullshit."

"Okay. Number three; 'If a girl plays with her breasts, touches them, licks them, or flicks her own nipples, sex becomes out of this world.' From Daichiro of Rice country."

"Hn. Daichiro of Rice country is new to sex." I smirked. If you had to let _her_ do all of the work, then you were clearly inexperienced. Perhaps he was afraid he wouldn't do it right. Each woman was sensitive in a different way, of course.

"Bullshit?" Sakura asked, jerking me from my condescending thoughts.

"No, just amateur." I clarified.

"Number four; 'One girl took advantage of my morning wood by climbing on top of me while I was asleep.' Testu also of Rice Country."

Lucky bastard.

"Number five; 'Ask him to remove your panties using his mouth.' Aia of wind country."

"Why, so he could feel like your _dog_?" I deadpanned. What kind of advice was that? Had that woman actually tried doing that and _actually _received a positive result, or did she just make it up to put it in the magazine?

"Not sexy?" Sakura asked.

"No, not sexy." I agreed.

"Matter of opinion, Sasuke." She reminded and continued. Hn. I wouldn't remove a woman's underwear with my teeth if she asked me to. That was degrading. The teeth-technique would be more useful for… a fucking _dog_. Like Inuzuka. Granted, sex could get rough and even wild sometimes, but never insane enough for a man, or at least for _me _to actually _tear_ a woman's underwear off with my fucking teeth— at _her_ request or not. That was _not_ good advice. If I end up in bed with a civilian next time and she asks me to do take off her panties with my teeth I'll know exactly which magazine company to find and burn to the ground for ruining the experience.

"Number six; 'Sprinkle a little bit of pepper beneath his nose before he climaxes. Sneezing feels similar to an orgasm and will—

I snatched the magazine from her hands. Enough was enough. That one was _ridiculous_. I tore the article out of the magazine as she watched in fascination, crumpled it up and threw it into the wastebasket beneath the table. Garbage.

"That one was _that_ bad?" She asked. I studied her grinning expression before I crossed my arms and closed my eyes again, smirking in response.

"Bullshit." I simply replied, keeping my cool. Pepper… _pepper! _During an orgasm! Disgusting. What if it fell into his eyes instead or whatever? There should be a committee to ban articles like that from reaching the public. I'm sure they cause more sexual problems than they fix. I felt Sakura shrug next to me. She flipped through the magazine as I rested my eyes. Before long, the first machine we set beeped to let us know that it was done. I stood up and Sakura followed me. Seconds after, the second one beeped, then the third and then finally the fourth. We piled all of the laundry into the four carts, wheeled the carts over to the drying and folding area and threw the clothes into six— yes, _six_— different driers so they'd dry faster.

She put more change into the machines and set the driers on. Sakura handed me a magazine I didn't notice she had picked up. It was some men's magazine about new inventions and work-related tips and tricks. As I flipped through a men's magazine for the first time in my twenty-one years of life, I noticed that on every other page there was a half-naked girl to accompany some article about the newest trains that have been created and tools and appliances that could be powered by chakra as well as news updates on the five great nations after the most recent war. Bored, I put the magazine down. I just didn't really care. I preferred books. Novels. Characters with backstories and gruesome, detailed death scenes and battles as well as unexpected plot twists. If I wanted information on something I would just go to a library or ask someone in passing. I didn't need to read magazines that were mostly filled with trash I'd never use.

Sakura picked the magazine back up, curious as to what was inside. She flipped pages, studying everything until she stopped at one.

"Seriously?" She glowered.

Her tone was condescending and mildly offended, as if she felt she was personally better than whatever was in the magazine. I leaned over and looked at the picture she was looking at. It was just a slightly-toned civilian model, posing as a kunoichi. She had a hita-ate around her breasts with no nation or insignia inscribed on it. She was wearing the skimpiest, blue g-string you could think of and her long, navy-black hair filled the page, sparkling blue eyes twinkling at the camera, a seductive blush on her cheeks. She was holding a fake kunai, stretching the side of her g-string with it as if she were about to cut it off. It would have been sexy if she was a real kunoichi with maybe more practical hair, an anbu tattoo and possibly a _real_ kunai in hand. I noted that the muscle-to-fat ratio of her body was impractical for the life of a kunoichi as well. I read the title of the article._ Should you Date a Kunoichi?_ With shuriken and kunai piercing some of the letters.

I could feel Sakura's killing intent rise as she violently flipped the flimsy page, nearly tearing it from the magazine as she went to look over the article. How did I miss this when I was looking through the magazine? To my credit I _did _just skip around it briefly.

"I can't _fucking_ believe they put this _girl_ with her fake kunai in this magazine." Sakura hissed venomously. "There's no national insignia on that hitai-ate either! It's so offensive!" She was stewing again. I could practically see the steam rising from her skin.

My eyes skimmed through the article. Sakura was right. The image _was_ offensive, as was the article. To a kunoichi like her, who was viewed as an equal by her male comrades, I could see it being _very_ offensive in her opinion.

_So, should you date a kunoichi? What are the pro's? The cons? You've come to the right place! _

To be honest, the article was making _me_ sick just reading it. Some pompous idiot comfortable in some office obviously wrote it. He described kunoichi as outwardly unapproachable and deadly, but mentioned that that was a good thing in bed and that the bottom line for any kunoichi was that they needed financial stability, and one thing civilian men had over male shinobi was that they didn't risk dying while making loads of money. Garbage. Garbage. Garbage. That one offended _me_. I made piles of money and I wasn't likely to die any time soon. I took the magazine out of her hands, took the _other_ women's magazine off of the folding table that we were leaning against, carried them both back across the room and placed them back on the black table where the other magazines were… except I placed them _underneath_ all the other magazines so hopefully they would never be read-through in this establishment so closeto our apartment complex _ever_ again. I walked back over to Sakura. She had her arms crossed and appeared to be glaring at a floor tile somewhere to the left of me. If looks could kill I'm sure the dust mites on that floor tile would be dead.

"If you glare at the floor any harder you're going to set it on fire." I commented dryly. She seemed to snap out of her thoughts, paused for a minute and laughed at what I said.

"No, only you can do that." She chuckled. "That was the most pompous, aggravating article I have ever read. Even Ino's magazines aren't _that_ trashy." She commented.

I shrugged and continued leaning against the folding table, watching our clothes spin in the huge dryers. I spotted Sakura's dress, my favorite training shirt and the only blue pair of boxers I ever owned.

"So how do you plan on disassembling Yamanaka's brain?" I asked, because I was entirely too curious about what exactly she was going to do to him. I was still hoping for her to kick him where it counted, but she seemed like she was going to do far worse than that.

"Ah, so you figured out that the damage will be more mentally traumatic than physically." She smiled so sweetly at me while stating such cynical words that it actually made me nervous. "I'll tell you later, I promise." She added, back to being the not-evil Sakura I was more familiar with. I nodded; a promise was a promise. I knew she'd keep hers.

Another few minutes of silence and the laundry was done. We placed everything in the carts and wheeled them the short distance to the folding tables. For a moment, we stared at the laundry. Would it be weird if she folded some of my clothes? I looked over at her. Her eyes met mine. I think she was thinking the same thing.

"There's… a lot of clothes…" I started slowly, hoping she'd just neutralize the awkward tension herself.

"Let me, um, help…" She replied just as slowly. A determined look appeared in her eyes and I relaxed.

We started on all of the shirts first because they were the most tedious and annoying to fold. I ended up folding one of her tiny shirts, smirking at it. I was just amused by how small her clothes were compared to mine.

"These _fucking _high collars are _so _annoying, Sasuke." She glowered as she pushed down and tucked in a collar of one of my shirts. "Don't you have normal t-shirts!?" She asked.

"I do." I replied smugly, only because her dissatisfaction was amusing. "Just not many." I saw her shoot me a glare from the corner of my eye.

Eventually we finished folding all of the shirts, Sakura happily folding my "normal" shirts while she left me to struggle with my high-collared ones. We made separate stacks of all the shirts and I sealed them into the storage seal. Next, we folded all of the pants. That was an easy task. They were sealed in next. Afterwards, I folded most of my boxers because _yes_ I wanted even those folded. Sakura snickered at me the entire time but stopped when I finally threatened to grab her underwear and have one of my hawks deliver it to Naruto.

After that was done, we sealed everything else in and got moving. We both thanked the old woman, who surprisingly smiled at _both_ of us, and took all of the leftover change and trudged back to my apartment, tiredly. It had taken us a full two hours to the laundry and it was now ten. We both still had to shower and sleep. I didn't know how Sakura was going to wake up for another early shift tomorrow. I didn't know how I was going to wake up at the same time, not sleep in and go train with Udon. I would have to set my fucking alarm.

Remembering tomorrow's schedule, I glowered at the fact that Sakura had a date with Yamanaka. Even though I knew she was only going with him to build him up high enough so his downwards spiral would hurt ten times as bad, I _still_ didn't like the idea of them being out together. A lot could happen on that forty-five minute walk to Hofuku… I had the sudden urge to warn her not to drink too much and lose track of what she was doing, because I _knew_ she was irresponsible with alcohol but _damn it_ I suppressed it because I wasn't anyone special. I couldn't just demand that she carry herself a certain way or not drink or whatever. I rolled my eyes as I realized I would just have to fucking deal with it. It was just one night anyway and Sakura had proven that she could take care of herself. I had to trust her.

Before I knew it we were upstairs and I was unlocking my apartment door. Tiredly, I stepped out of my shoes and walked over to my bedroom, then unsealed all of the clothes we folded, separating them into drawers as Sakura grabbed some water to drink from the refrigerator. I took all of Sakura's clothes— including the ones she had yet to wear— and put them on a low shelf in my closet where I had space. That shelf was originally meant for spare shoes, but I always left my shoes by the door anyway, so it would finally serve a purpose now. Once that was done I stepped out to find her putting dishes away into the cabinets above her head. I glared at her. Just what was I supposed to do now while she showered?

"You should shower first." My voice interrupted her and she smiled as she lifted the last cup and placed it back into the cabinet above her head.

"Thanks." She grinned and walked past me to the bathroom. I busied myself with wiping down the kitchen table and shining the sink, even though that was a useless task. I grinned mischievously into my reflection in the metal of the sink faucet as I remembered the letter I wrote to Hiashi earlier in the day. He was probably reading it _right_ now. With any luck, he was already contemplating on how to respond to "Naruto's request". His response would be delivered _right_ to the hokage tower, where Naruto was spending more and more of his time these days.

I listened to the water run in the bathroom as Sakura showered. I put away the cleaning supplies and straightened out our shoes at the front door, even though they didn't need to be straightened. Bored, I fell onto my couch and turned on the tv. I half-listened to some game show about guessing prices on objects correctly. How boring.

My mind wandered to Sakura as usual and how she planned on helping me with my chakra control. Idly, I summoned my chakra to the palm of my hand, remembering how she did it back at the hospital. I tried to tighten and minimize the flow of chakra, but only ended up cutting it off completely. I felt tired after that so I stopped bullshitting and flipped the channel. A movie was on. The princess of the land of spring we saved that one time was in it. Yukie was her name. Fukuzie, Kuzuf— I can't remember her surname. I watched the actors on the screen without really paying attention to the plot. Eventually, Sakura opened the door to the bathroom.

"S-Sasuke?" She called out nervously. I sat up _immediately_. She did _not _sound okay.

"What?" I asked, on edge.

"Um… I forgot… my clothes…" Her nervous tone called from the bathroom. Ugh. I thought she fell or hurt herself or broke something. I slammed my hand into my eyes for being unnecessarily concerned, but at the same time I wasn't surprised. I had feelings for her. It was bound to happen. When I didn't respond she sounded half-angry, half-worried.

"Sasuke! Answer me!" She hissed, as if she thought I would _actually _just leave her to run around my apartment in nothing but a towel in search for clothes.

"All _right_. Calm down." I picked myself up off the couch and listened as she closed the bathroom door with a click, understanding that I was going to get her her clothes.

…

I smirked. This _could_ be fun… I didn't really have a reason for messing with her other than the fact that I just found that I had the uncontrollable urge to do so. To be honest, Sakura was sexy when she was angry. Her entire body tensed muscle-by-muscle and her cheeks almost always flushed attractively. I abandoned the rather perverse idea, however, because it was late and we both needed to sleep… and I wanted to shower and relax under the hot water for a while as well.

I found the boxers she had been sleeping in the last two days and tossed them into the now empty hamper. I picked up a solid navy blue pair with a button on the front and a "normal" black shirt with my insignia on the back. No collar, because I now knew how much hatred Sakura harbored for my shirt-collars. I appreciated them because they had deflected many kunai and shuriken, saving my neck from damage in battle. I wasn't going to make her sleep in a shirt she obviously hated, however so I picked up the fresh set of clothes and headed over to the bathroom knocking on the door once. I heard the rustle of fabric against the wood of the door. She was leaning against it and had turned around.

"Turn around." She ordered. I rolled my eyes and turned around.

"Open the door." I called over my shoulder.

"Are you turned away?" She asked sharply, being as thorough as possible. I rolled my eyes again.

"No, Sakura I want to see you naked before the night is over." I drawled sarcastically.

"Ha-ha." She laughed dryly and I heard the door open. I felt the air on my side move around and I realized she had stuck her arm through the crack in the door. I was holding the bundle of clothes up too high and she was moving her arm around trying to find it. I lowered my arm just as her palm smacked on top of the pile.

"Oh, there it is. Thanks." She took the clothes and from the corner of my eye I saw her arm disappear and the door close. I went back to lying down on the couch. Tiredly, my eyelids drooped shut. I yawned and drifted asleep as Sakura changed in my bathroom.

-X-

AWWWWWWW I love giving Sasuke his playful moments and his grumpy moments! Let me know what you guys think! Lots of looove! –hugs-

Disclaimer: I don't own shit. I don't make money off of this.

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	17. Boundries

KISEKI

|17|

I blushed as I hung my towel and looked at the bundle of fresh clothes in my hands. Sasuke was _actually _considerate enough to get me a _regular _t-shirt to sleep in. I guess he took a mental note when I made it clear how much I didn't appreciate his collared shirts at the Laundromat earlier. It's not like I didn't like them on _him_ per se, I just didn't exactly like them in combination with _me_. I whipped the clean shirt around to see if he had picked the plain one without the—

Nnnnnoope…

The Uchiha fan on the back stared back up at me in my hands. He hadn't gone as far as getting me the _one_ shirt _without_ his clan insignia on it, unfortunately. He had just probably pulled whichever collarless shirt from the top of the stack in his drawer… Oh well, not like it matters. I'm happy that the collar won't be getting in my face tonight.

Bending over, I slid his comfortable, black, cotton boxers over my legs first, rolled the waistband over once so they fit me better and buttoned the hole shut in the front, giggling at the fact that men's boxers came with buttons… for obvious reasons, ahem. It's funny but efficient. I stood up straight and slipped the shirt over my head, pushing my arms through the sleeves. Wow… my torso was drowning in the shirt. It fell just an inch or two past where his boxers ended on my legs. I was happy that it covered me pretty well.

Sasuke usually wore shirts that masked his actual size— another one of his battle tricks. If you weren't observant you'd get your ass handed to you. A few times during our spar I thought I was striking his center when in reality I was off to the right of his body by an inch or so. It doesn't matter if you're a brawler like I am, but if you're a precise fighter, or more specifically, looking to damage a certain organ or vein or something like that, the slight bagginess of his clothes can really throw you off. … I think he buys a half-size larger to keep the women at bay too. Imagine what would happen if they had a better idea of what he looked like beneath his clothes? He'd have to hire body guards. I didn't want to complement him in my head but there was no use in lying to myself. Sasuke was hot. _Really _hot. More realistically-fitting clothes would only attract attention he clearly did not want.

I brushed my teeth and my hair after getting dressed and stepped out of the bathroom, the steam following me into the open floor-plan of Sasuke's apartment. I saw him on his couch and the deep rise and fall of his chest alerted me to the fact that he was sleeping. His legs were crossed at his ankles and his hands were leisurely resting atop his chest, his head tilted slightly towards the rest of the room. I felt bad for taking so long in the bathroom, but I doubt he fell right into REM in the few minutes that I've been getting changed, so I walked over and nudged his foot with my knee. I watched his eyes blink open slowly, and then squint in the artificial light of the living room as it assaulted his pupils.

"Mm?" He asked in his sexy tired voice as he slowly sat up, the leather of his couch slightly shifting beneath his weight.

"It's your turn. I'm going to go right to sleep. Oyasumi." I explained briefly, because I didn't want to spend any more time studying him... and his damned good-looking body. He nodded, running a calloused hand through his thick, straight hair and rubbing his scalp with the pads of his fingers.

"Aa, oyasumi." He replied, still slightly sleepy. I nodded and turned to walk away. He swung his legs over the couch and began his short trip to the bathroom just as I entered his room, shut the light and threw myself atop his bed. I heard the sound of the water turning on in the bathroom and sighed. Today had been a _nightmare_.

The baby operation was a nightmare because there was literally _no_ room for the slightest inclination of error. The operation on Hyuuga Rohsuke was a nightmare for obvious reasons. Finding out that Suchiru is a playboy was a _nightmare_. All the operations and emergency rescues and surgeries I did after lunch were a nightmare as well. Running into Yuki in the break room after what I knew she did was a nightmare. Taking two soldier pills throughout the day was a nightmare and more than anything, being late for dinner when I made Sasuke cook when he obviously didn't like cooking, was a nightmare. In fact, the _only _not-nightmarish parts of my day were my lunch break with Sasuke, eating dinner with Sasuke, and the trip to the Laundromat, which was _also_ with Sasuke.

When had Sasuke become a ray of fucking sunshine? I thought I'd never actually enjoy spending time with him, but he had made my day improve when I was with him. Honestly. I rolled over to face the wall and took a deep breath, trying to relax. I blushed as I was suddenly assaulted by the memory of Kimi grilling me in the break room about Sasuke.

"_Spill it, Sakura-chan. When had you started going out with __**the**__ Uchiha Sasuke?" _ She had gotten in my face and I wanted to _kill_ her… or myself, or Sasuke, I wasn't exactly sure.

Oh yeah, that was_ another_ nightmare. Jun _had_ spread the rumors I thought she would. Now I had jealous staff members anywhere from one to three years older and younger than me asking me if I was Sasuke's girlfriend; asking if the last Uchiha had _actually_ decided to give me of all people a chance— as if I wasn't worthy of it. How _stupid_. I think I scared the last intern who bugged me about it; she was a young girl who had just advanced to chunin rank. I was _pissed _at that point and _tired_ of all the knocking on my office door. I would have to apologize to her tomorrow…

Stupid Sasuke. Maybe he wasn't a ray of sunshine after all. Maybe he was still just a nightmare in a beautifully wrapped package like he always was...

I bit my lip at that thought. Okay. That was mean and cruel and uncalled for. And wrong. I shouldn't be mad at him for being himself. He wasn't the one that spread the rumors; neither was he the one that made all of the female staff bitchy towards me today. None of that was intentionally his fault. I sighed and tugged on my long bangs a bit. I felt stressed and thinking about everything wasn't going to fix anything. I would just have to try to sleep. I needed to be well-rested if I was going to be a man-killer tomorrow night. I rolled my eyes at the thought of shopping. I would have to buy an outfit three times as sexy for tomorrow. I would have to moisturize, style my hair and put together a few, um, _things_… I was _not_ looking forward to that… it was _so_ much work… but I needed to be _ultra_ sexy for everything to work out the way I wanted it to.

Ugh. I couldn't even care to think about all of that because what was _really _stressing me was my changing opinion on the Uchiha showering in his bathroom right now; the same man that would probably shamelessly crawl into this bed next to me in just a few minutes. He had changed _so _much these last four years. And I found that I appreciated every change I came across so far. I wanted more than anything for him to be the same asshole kid that had hurt me beyond repair when we were teenagers, because it would be easier to just say that he would never change and I had made the right decision in ditching my feelings for him. It would be _easier_ to just treat him like a friend if he were still selfish, douchey seventeen-year-old Sasuke.

But he was _not_ selfish, douchey seventeen-year-old Sasuke anymore, no.

He was sexy, considerate, _approachable_ twenty-one-year-old Sasuke now.

He wasn't the same. As if he couldn't get any more attractive, he had softened a bit over the years. Okay he was still harsh, he hadn't "softened" per se. He was still rough-around-the-edges-Sasuke but my point is that he just didn't go out of his way to be mean anymore. Every day I spent with him I noticed that he was much less selfish than he used to be. He wasn't self-centered anymore. He had thought to get me a shogi board, when I didn't even ask for one. He had offered to make dinner and he had even allowed me to stay with him for an entire week while my lock-out situation was being put in order. If anything… if I had to be honest, which—trust me— I didn't want to be, I would have to say he had become even sort of sweet. I placed a hand on the forehead I had thankfully grown into these last four years.

**It wouldn't be so bad to like him again… **

Stop. Just stop. It would be _horrible_ if I liked him again. It would be like catching an incurable disease. He was only kind because we were_ friends_ now. I'm not stupid, Inner. He didn't like me when we were young _because_ I liked him. He won't like me now if I make it known that I like him. Besides, I haven't changed _that_ much from back then, so if he didn't like me then, during the war, then he definitely won't like me now!

**But… he's here… and he's single… and he's gorgeous… and he's stable… and he's funny… and he's nice… and he's a **_**great**_** cook and—**

I sensed Sasuke's chakra in the room. When had the water even turned off!? How long have I been ranting to myself for!? He turned on his bedside lamp. I felt him sit on his bed and start fiddling with something he had picked up off of his nightstand. Since he wasn't being very subtle I assumed he knew I was still awake. I twisted my upper body around to look at him. He was messing with his digital alarm clock in is lap. I cocked a brow at his back.

"Can't sleep?" He questioned, sensing my gaze on him, but not taking his attention away from the little device in his masculine hands. I was surprised he spoke first.

"No. I'm exhausted though." I replied robotically, because he was making me nervous again. He was _actually_ making an effort to talk; to connect. It was kind of… hurting me… to be honest. I didn't want to be confused about him. I thought I was over him. Actually, I think I liked being over him. I felt in control when I was over him. I'm still over him, right?

"You're setting an alarm?" I curiously asked to just distract myself from that horrific train of thought.

"Aa." He replied calmly. I had never heard him speak so calmly before. He was _peaceful_. Genuinely. He had _changed_ and he was _achingly _desirable and I hated myself for even _thinking_ that way.

Click. Click. Click.

"Why?" I clenched my jaw afterwards. Why was I still talking? Stop reaching out to him, Sakura. Nothing good will come of it! Just roll over and fall the fuck asleep. Call it a night!

Click. Click.

"I have to be up just as early as you tomorrow." He responded leisurely. He seemed relaxed after his shower. And he smelled good; like Sasuke. Since all of his products were scentless, his natural scent was the only one I could pick up on and it was subtle, masculine and _so _desirable. Speaking of bath products… I owed him new ones. We were rapidly running out since we were both using his stuff. I watched the small droplets of water drip from his hair down his bare shoulders and back… they made subtle trails across his muscled, toned body and left wet tracks across his light skin. I watched the tiny muscles in his back move as he clicked away… setting the stupid alarm. There wasn't a spot on him that wasn't toned. But… he wasn't, like, _too _muscly either, because that was just gross on a man and Sasuke couldn't be gross if he fucking tried. He was… _fucking infuriatingly perfect_.

Even the few tiny scars he had indisputably added to his good looks. I saw a small one on his left shoulder that looked like it could've been made by a kunai. I spotted a horizontal one about a half-inch long next to the dimples on his lower back and another tiny one in a vertical line just above his right elbow. They were so faint I was sure they happened long, _long_ ago… probably during his training with Orochimaru, because I never remembered him getting _that_ fucked up before then. I wanted to bash my head against the wall. UUUUUUGH! Why am I here, looking at him and analyzing him? Why does this have to happen to _me_? Hadn't I suffered enough over the years? Why do I have to be so frustrated over _him_? And why are all these thoughts hitting me _here_ in _his_ bed? Couldn't he at least give me a break and put a fucking shirt on? He was _killing _me and I couldn't even say that; I couldn't even be mad at him for being him. _I_ was killing _me _over _him_. UUUUUGH!

Wait. Why did he have to be up early when he didn't have any missions? _Did_ he have a mission? My curiosity piqued.

"Do you have a mission?" I asked, after too long of a pause. Really, I'm an idiot, he had replied to me about two minutes ago already. And it wasn't really my business to ask… He placed his alarm clock back on the nightstand.

"No." He responded and turned around, placing one bent knee on the bed so he was facing me. He was wearing navy blue pajama pants tonight… and that's it. I wanted to turn back towards the wall because I didn't want to make eye contact with him and remember how sexy his eyes were, but that would be rude so I stayed put. And as if to mock me, his dark eyes looked into mine as he placed one of his palms on the bed between us. Stupid sexy Uchiha. "I'm training tomorrow." He mentioned with the tiniest shrug of his broad shoulder. My eyes caught the necklace that he religiously wore… that only accentuated his _fucking sexy _collar bones. Every pair of pants he wore accentuated his "v" by his waistband and his hip bones. Not. Fair. He wasn't even affected by me in the least. Kami-sama was _cruel_ and Kami-sama loved jokes. It just so happened that I was the butt of all those jokes…

I cocked an eyebrow. Focus, Sakura. Training? At five in the morning when he clearly has earned a break from missions? What gives? He smirked because he read the questions in my expression.

"Udon." He simply stated and it dawned on me that he actually approached the kid after I mentioned him! I gaped at him.

"You _actually_ confronted him about the Konohamaru/Moegi thing?" Now _this_ was interesting. Since when did Sasuke make anyone else's romantic life his business? I sat up straight and turned the rest of the way towards him. I smirked, because I knew I had a feeling that he'd talk to the kid after I told him how much Udon looked up to him. He nodded in response.

"All right then, out with it; does he like her?" I asked, because the girly and romantic side of me wanted to know… and because I wanted to focus on _anything_ but where my thoughts were taking me tonight. Sasuke shrugged and didn't give me any answer. His face became neutral. I shoved him because no _way_ was he going to leave me hanging like that! He recovered from my rough push rather quickly. I couldn't help but note how warm the skin of his shoulder was beneath my palm.

"Come _on_ I had a really shitty work-day today! I won't tell anyone, I promise! I just want to know 'cause I'm curious…" I persuaded. He studied me and seemed to consider me for a moment. It made me nervous because his eyes, though so dark, were so piercing in their gaze. I resisted the urge to fidget. He eventually sighed.

"He likes her, but she doesn't notice him." He finally responded and unconsciously ran a hand through his hair, as if somewhere, he understood what that felt like and it frustrated him as well. Pffft. As if Sasuke would _ever_ know what it was like to have an unrequited love. Women threw themselves at his feet. _Women_ asked to marry _him_— not the other way around! If he wanted someone all he had to do was ask! No way would he ever understand what it's like to not be loved back.

"Why do you look so frustrated?" I drawled with a bland, un-amused look on my face. He looked confused at my less-than-peppy response.

"He's quiet. It's hard for him." Sasuke shrugged, as if that was a proper explanation for why _he_ could understand not being liked back by someone he was interested in. I think I deflated at that response.

"I can't imagine you being able to understand his plight." I deadpanned, making my point clear as day. Sasuke outright glared at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He half-warned. He was giving me a chance to back down, but I wasn't about to. I dramatically and slowly rolled my eyes. Game on, Sasuke. Game on. I don't know why I felt like picking a fight with him, but I did. The day's negativity had taken its toll and I needed to do _something_ to get it out of my system.

"Oh _please_." I began. "Don't act like a woman's _ever _denied you." I called him out. "There's just no way you were ever in his position." I detailed and crossed my arms.

He seemed to think on that for a few moments. I noted how the warm light of his lamp gave his skin a slightly goldish tone. He didn't respond. Instead, he reached over, turned off the lamp on his nightstand and starting crawling under the dark, soft sheets. I stared at him open-mouthed with disbelief in the dark, the little light from the moon allowing me to see his _smug_ smirk as he settled underneath the covers. No, of course, _why_ would he defend himself? I was fucking right. If Sasuke extended romance it was _always_ reciprocated. _Duh. _

"You're a jackass." I huffed and moved to roll over. I wanted him to get mad for no reason. I wanted to fucking fight him _right_ now. I think he heard it in my tone.

"And you want a fight." He commented in a bored tone. He hadn't lied down yet.

I paused.

"Yes. I'm stressed. I want a fight." I admitted. "Fuck you." I added with no venom in my tone, just to add to the idea that I _did_ want a small brawl. On the inside, I was surprised he picked up on how I was feeling. That was usually Naruto's job. I turned my head to I could look at him from the corner of my eye. Sasuke was too calm as his smirk turned into a grin.

"You're on." He deadpanned back and then lunged at me in the dark.

I briefly shrieked because I wasn't prepared for him to ignore the sheets covering us and just pounce on top of me like a cat pounced on its prey. I added what little chakra I recovered throughout the night into my arms and shoved him. He flew off the edge of the bed. I worked on tossing off the covers as quickly as possible and lunged myself at him when I was free. In the dark, he was recovering from a backwards roll. He stopped himself, and was now crouching against the wall next to his door, sharingan spinning and glowing red in the blackness of his room.

I felt… excited. _Elated_. His sharingan only added to that feeling. I _needed_ a fight; my thoughts were just _too _agitating. I growled and launched at him. He let me tackle him to the side and onto the carpeted floor. I locked my knees securely at his sides as I sat atop his waist. I threw a punch at his face. He caught my wrist and pulled me forward, throwing me off guard. I struggled against him, pulling back almost immediately. I raised my other fist and launched it at his face as I began to lose the battle and fall forward towards him. He knocked it out of the way using a taijutsu move that he had copied off of _me_ from our previous spar. Angry, I growled again, because he hadn't used his sharingan during our spar, he was purely showing off the fact that he was a genius by using _my_ move that he learned _sans _sharingan. My turn was suddenly over. With a grunt, he heaved and flipped us both over using the muscles of his free arm, and the left side of his body. We rolled to the side and now he was halfway on top of me, his desk just a few feet away from the side of my head.

He went to punch me, but, he hadn't effectively trapped my legs; one of them was loose from previously being at his side. I raised a knee as high as I could, and blocked his punch with my shin. It didn't hurt much at all. Smirking, I kicked out, and he took the relatively light hit to his shoulder, rolling backwards again. I hadn't kicked him with full force or with chakra just like he hadn't really decked my leg hard. This was just a wrestling match to let off some steam. I caught his leg before he could roll away completely and dragged him across the soft carpet, back over to me. Instinctively, his hands clawed for something to grab onto to stop me from pulling him, but he quickly gave up on that, realizing there was just carpeting beneath him.

Instead, he swung his free— and long— leg at my head but I ducked just in time and avoided it. His pajama pant leg brushed my hair far over to the side and I didn't really care. During my evasive maneuver, my grip on his ankle loosened and he violently jerked the leg I was halfway holding onto to get it free. Cutting my losses, I let him go. We both jumped to our feet afterwards, but he placed himself in a defensive position, as I fluidly moved into an offensive one and launched at him again. His body language was clear, _Just take your anger out on me, Sakura._ It was another sweet gesture from him that pissed me off and reminded me why I was so aggravated in the first place. I'm so stupid. I'm such a _stupid_ girl that just can't get rid of her past. We kicked and punched at each other, moving in circles around his still surprisingly neat room. I guess we were both subconsciously careful not to mess anything up. We seemed equally matched, but eventually, my back somehow had ended up close to the wall behind me, by his closed bedroom door.

In a real-life situation where I _didn't _need to be stealthy, I'd say _fuck the wall_ and tear it down with a tap of my foot, and simultaneously stick him with a poisoned senbon, but this wasn't an anbu mission… this… I don't exactly know _what_ this was, but it was quickly becoming fun; I felt myself smiling. I tried to attack his pressure points, but he smirked and evaded my strikes effortlessly, cheating effectively with his sharingan.

I couldn't help but notice that he looked pleasantly amused. To keep him on his toes, I struck harder, trying not to let my back touch the wall. Noticing this, he tried to force me towards it— because _of course_ he would. Eventually, he deflected both of my strikes in rapid succession and I found my arms flinging outwards to my sides in a wide arch. Before I could pick my arms back up or drop them completely, or even use them to launch myself off of the wall, Sasuke moved lightning-fast and pinned my wrists to the wall behind me, trapping my shoulders, head and upper torso against it. He took a step forward, causing me to take a step back and before I knew it his upper body was just an inch away from mine and we were both breathing heavily, looking at each other in the dark. The wall felt cool and nice through his shirt on my back. I took deep breaths of air to steady my heartbeat.

As he exhaled, the ends of his hair periodically tickled my cheeks; I realized that it had grown longer. I could see the pulse-point on his neck beating rapidly. His breath was hot and unsurprisingly minty as it fanned my forehead, causing my bangs to wisp across my face. I… I didn't realize how close he was until I felt my stomach touch his as I breathed in. I looked down and saw that his knee was up against the wall, trapping me against it. His elbows were against the wall as well, resting on either side of me, his hands still gently holding onto my wrists.

The fight was completely out of the both of us… I hadn't even realized I had relaxed completely. I was too focused on him and how _close _he was to me. He was so close I could count his eyelashes if I had the time! _Kami-sama_ he was fucking overwhelming each of my senses. He felt good. His grip on my wrists was gentle, but _just _rough enough to remind me exactly who was in front of me. He looked good. His eyes were _so_ dark and sexy and he was tall and toned. He _sounded_ good. His breaths were deep and clear indicating that he was _healthy_. He smelled _sexy_ and I was sure that if he kissed me he'd _taste _delicious too.

Neither of us spoke. I could vaguely hear the crickets and night-time creatures singing their songs through his shut window. I wanted to hyperventilate because… I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know what he was looking at me so intently for. Believe me, he was _looking_ at me, I just didn't know what he was seeing. Was he waiting for _me_ to speak? How could I speak when he was only an inch away from my face? His lips were beautifully shaped in a masculine way and if I tipped my head upwards the slightest bit we'd end up kissing. I felt a wave of heat crash over my body and I realized _just_ how turned on I was. I _wanted_ more. Selfishly, I wanted more of him. I wanted him to touch me, _everywhere_. I wanted his hands on thighs and my hips _again_. I wanted his lips on my skin… But as I looked into his fathomless eyes, I realized how _afraid _I was of him. He would _never _do anything with me. No, scratch that… he _would_ under the right circumstances, but he wouldn't _twice_. I _wanted_ him to want me more than once… to want more out of me than just sex. I wanted him to want Sakura the _woman_, not Sakura's body. Fuck. That would never happen.

"I guess you win." My voice came out softer than I intended it to and I shrugged, but as I eased into the lie of confidence I felt more comfortable.

Just treat it like a mission, Sakura.

"Better now?" He asked. He _still_ wasn't moving! What the fuck is wrong with you Sasuke! Get out of my face! _Please!_ I only nodded because I wasn't about to scream at him. I didn't trust my voice or my brain to say anything intelligent either. My body was telling me to tip my head upwards, kiss him and to wrap a leg around his waist and bring him just that one inch closer so we'd touch. My mind was screaming at me to get away because physical contact with him clearly wasn't safe for my sanity. It just wasn't. Sasuke was dangerous. Sasuke would make me think things I promised myself I wouldn't ever think again after becoming friends with him. I focused on a point on his shoulder and decided to taunt him, because Sasuke was prideful and that's what he _always _responded to.

"So, can I be set free, your Great Uchiha-ness or are we just gonna hang out like this 'till tomorrow?" I drawled with a smirk. I was only able to come off so convincing because I was pretending that he was someone else. I was remembering the last guy I had duped into getting an important scroll on a mission. He was average-looking and not very intelligent. It was easy to feel in control in front of a person who had nothing on me.

Ninmu. Ninmu. Ninmu. I chanted "mission" like a mantra. It helped relax me. I heard Sasuke chuckle and I saw his chest shudder deliciously with the movement. His voice destroyed the calm my mantra had helped me achieve. Fuck.

"We can hang out like this until tomorrow." He spoke in an innocent tone and he_ shrugged!_ He did! I saw his shoulder move because I was staring at it.

What? _What!? _That was _not_ what I expected him to say! I felt my face get hot and I _prayed _that he didn't see my pink cheeks in the small amount of moonlight filtering through his blinds. Fuck! What— what was that _response_!? How do you even interpret that!?

Inner took over while I panicked, internally.

"Oh? In that case we'll do what? Play patty-cake with our toes?" She drawled in a superior tone through my voice and I was _so _grateful she was on my side this time. Maybe my entire mind unanimously understood that I could _not_ fuck Sasuke without severe mental consequences afterwards.

_Mercifully _he dropped my wrists and chuckled again. Thank _kami-sama_. I was crying from relief on the inside, even though I was _still_ so turned on.

"Good point." He smirked over his back and I wanted to fall against the wall. He stretched as he approached his bed; yawned like he was completely oblivious to the effect he had on me – which I was grateful for— and fixed the sheets, crawling in afterwards. Mechanically, I moved after him, because I was _not_ going to stand there against his wall and stare after him. That would tip him off and make him think he _had_ an effect on me, which is what I _didn't _want him to think. _STUPID FUCKING SAKURA. _I wanted to rip my hair out. I should _not_ be looking at him that way. I should _not _be thinking about him that way! He didn't want me that way! That's it. That's just it. Accept it. RRRGGGRAAAA! Sasuke was driving me _nuts_. Tomorrow I'm going to pen a letter to Gaara and have him _force_ Tsunade-sama—in a very political, artistic and polite way, of course— to send me to Suna so I can just be away from stupid sexy guys that made me want them after I decided I didn't want them anymore!

My body betrayed none of the turmoil that was raging in my mind as I snuggled in to what had become "my" pillow, facing the wall, facing away from Sasuke. To my utter fucking incomprehensible and indescribable surprise, Uchiha fucking Sasuke _wrapped his arm around my waist._ I squeaked in surprise as he pulled me flush against his chest. I felt his nose settle gently against the back of my head. What the _fuck_ was he doing? I was upset. He didn't like me. Why was he doing things that guys that liked me did? Ugh. _Ugh_. Get a grip Sakura. Get a fucking grip. It's just a teammate thing. I cuddled with Naruto thousands of times before this! Thousands! Get over it. Get over him. That was it. I was getting over him. I was getting over Sasuke _tonight_ and I was _not_ going to let these kinds of thoughts bother me ever again. I am Haruno fucking Sakura and I've been to hell and back these last eight years and I am _not_ going to be rattled by my own insanity, shannaro!

"Sasuke?" I asked and to my satisfaction my voice sounded bored and tired. _Good_. You don't affect me anymore, Uchiha Sasuke. Suck it! I felt him shrug in response to what I said.

"We're going to wake up like this anyway…" He explained confidently. And of course, he was right.

I decided to throw his previous words back at him.

"Good point." I replied, also in a confident tone.

And I felt him smirk as he began to relax behind me. Though my heart was still beating like a drum on synthetic drugs, I began to relax too. It was then that Sasuke's free hand— the one that wasn't attached to the arm beneath my pillow and my head— found mine. In his half-asleep state he started to rub the palm of my hand with his calloused thumb. I was so tired from the day that I took comfort in the small action and fell right to sleep with little to no difficulties, despite my turbulent thoughts.

-X-

That morning, I awoke with a scream. I think I was dreaming about some storm hitting Konoha from across the sea, which is weird because I normally liked storms. Sasuke's alarm had startled me into action and because he was still holding onto me, I panicked even more before I finally realized that I was safe. I was in his room, and I wasn't dying out in the stormy streets of my nightmare. We were both sitting upright now. I had to pee really bad. I realized it was because I had slept like the dead throughout the whole night. I was catching my breath and I realized that somehow, I was in between Sasuke's legs, said man holding me with both arms. I was shaking. I was still afraid and I didn't know why. Storms didn't normally scare me, but the storm in my dream _promised_ death to everyone I loved. I felt helpless. I was nothing compared to the storm. Everyone was going to _die_ and I could do little to nothing about it. Soothingly, he began to rub one of my shoulders with his thumb. I leaned back against him and finally caught my breath. It was _so_ relaxing when he did that…

"Holy shit." I finally breathed. "I'm sorry, Sasuke." I apologized.

"What do you dream about?" He asked quietly. He knew his question was rude and intrusive but this was the second time I woke up like this. He must be getting curious. I rubbed his forearm to signal that I was okay. Immediately, he let go. I sat up on my knees. Damn, I _really _had to pee. It was still dark out, but I was amazed at the fact that I had slept without a single interruption. I turned around to look at him. He was beautiful in the dark of pre-dawn, but he was waiting patiently for me to respond to him.

"A storm." I responded honestly. His eyes narrowed. "Everyone was going to die…" I detailed and shook my head. I forced an easy smile. "It's fine though." I shrugged. "Where did you put my clothes?" I asked so we could both think about something else.

"Bottom left of my closet. There's a small shelf and a drawer beneath it." He replied, studying me as I slid off the end of his bed and stretched.

"Thanks."

I went over, retrieved my usual outfit and went to the bathroom to get ready for my shift at the hospital. Surprisingly, despite my nightmare I was well-rested. I had literally fallen asleep and not woken up until the alarm rang. It wasn't often that that sort of thing happened. Actually, I haven't gotten to sleep that well since maybe the night the war ended. I relieved myself, washed my hands and face, brushed my hair, tied it up into a high pony and brushed my teeth, then I slid on my pants and my v-neck and smiled. I was _really _well-rested. Nothing was going to ruin my day today… maybe. Actually, something probably _would_ ruin it today but whatever, I was _ready_ for it! I smirked at myself in the mirror. I was going to _murder_ Suchiru tonight. I couldn't _wait _to go shopping! I stepped out of the bathroom, and smiled at Sasuke as he stepped in. Said Uchiha gave me an odd look, but I could care less. I _slept well_. For the first time in _years_. I practically _skipped _over to the kitchen and started making breakfast. Fifteen minutes later, I had made omlettes, rice, miso and hot green tea.

Sasuke looked impressed as his nose caught scent of the food on his way out of the bathroom. Today he was dressed in a high-collared black shirt with no zipper, dark grey pants, blue wrist-warmers and his hitai-ate. The fact that the table was already set surprised him. He looked guilty as he sat down.

"I would've helped." He simply stated. It wasn't an argument; he was just letting me know that I didn't have to do it on my own. But I shot him a grin anyway. I felt like my energy level could compete with Naruto's today.

"Just shut up and eat." I responded easily and dug in. "Itadakimasu."

"Hn." It was a grunt with a smirk: Sasuke was in a good mood too. We ate quickly, because we both had things to do. Afterwards, I washed dishes while he dried them and put them away. I walked over to his cabinet in the living room and pulled out a medical tome I was going to want to peruse through in my office. He walked over to his room to grab his katana and his weapons pouches. I beat him to the door. He was rifling through the seal on his wrist-warmer.

Poof!

I didn't care to look at what he summoned. I had my shoes on and it was 5:25. I had five minutes to run to the hospital.

"Sakura."

I spun around before I opened his door. He tossed something metal my way and I caught it. It was a small, brass key. I looked up at him.

"It's a spare." He supplied. Oh. I would need it to get back tonight. I nodded and placed it in the thigh-pocket of my pants. I zipped the pocket and smiled at him.

"Thanks." I smiled and ran out the door.

"Wait!" He chastised and he sounded mildly peeved. My nin-boots squeaked out in the hallway as I stopped short. I turned back and poked my head through the door. I was surprised to be face-to-face with his chest. He had a twenty-gold bill in his hand. I looked up into his fathomless onyx eyes and frowned.

"Sasuke, you know that I have a _humongous_ debt on my shoulders to you already. I can't accep—

"A three or five-gold lunch isn't adding much to it then, is it?" He interrupted me with a raised brow. I frowned at him. Small expenses built up over time. Of _course_ it's adding much. He reached over and violently—okay not violently, his hand was just too big for my small pocket— shoved it down my pocket when I didn't move to take it from him.

"H-Hey!" I called after him as he shunshinned immediately away with a smirk. "I stared at the empty spot in the doorway where he stood just a half-second ago. "Uchiha Sasuke… you surprising jerkface…" I muttered under my breath and locked his apartment door for him. I shunshinned away as well, making it to the hospital _just_ on time.

-X-

At around 12:30, I was happily but still regrettably munching on a salmon onigiri and drinking green tea out of a can at my desk as I contemplated ways to get around using Sasuke's money to buy myself an outfit after my shift— Which I was informed would end early because I had actually gotten extra work done yesterday. I'd be leaving at one today. I would have _aaaaaallllllll day_ to get ready and extra sexy for tonight. I smirked evilly at my bookcase. I'm gonna _kill_ you Suchiru… well, not really, but some part of you is going to shrivel and die tonight…

I checked my weapons pouch and the chemicals I had in my storage scroll. I would have to be _fully_ prepared for today and tonight. Even though I was well rested, it would be wise to also take a nap after my shopping spree. I yawned. How to avoid spending more of Uchiha Sasuke's infinite supply of money?

I would need to _borrow_ money unfortunately… and Tsunade-sama had already rejected me when I asked her for an advance on my paycheck. She told me to go ask my "boyfriend" if I wanted money and that I knew damn well that no one in a shinobi village got _any_ portion of their paycheck in advance. I wanted to die. After vehemently telling her that that was _not_ the case between me and my ex-teammate, I had left Tsunade's office in the hospital and retreated to my own. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Think Sakura… there has to be someone who I could safely borrow from…

Kakashi-sensei?

**Tch. He's probably saving for his house and his wedding. **

By his age he should have enough already. Hmmmm…

Naruto?

**Bad idea. He should be spending his money on Hinata-chan. **

Hmmm...

…

Sai…?

**Sai won't give us money. He'll just say no. **

True.

…Ino…?

A light clicked on in my mind.

**We **_**could**_** borrow from Ino…**

But… owing her is dangerous… she would want the debt paid back with _interest_.

…**And "interest" usually means something we wouldn't want to do… Maybe we should just go find Sasuke…**

No. That's not happening. Ino is my best friend. I'm going to ask her and I'm going to ask her not to hold it against me. I bought her a beautiful lotus necklace for her birthday that cost me a pretty penny anyway! She damn well _better_ not hold something fucked up against me for a small favor like this!

With that I polished off the rest of my onigiri, drank down the rest of my tea and exited my office. I threw the trash into a large trash bin in the hall and made my way through the hospital, making sure all inpatients were doing okay before I left, exactly at one, tossing my labcoat into a laundry bin on my way out. I decided to quickly find Ino's office and pull her out of it. I sensed her chakra at the mental health clinic of Konoha— exactly where she should be at this time of day. I greeted the young brunette who operated the front desk with a smile. She easily smiled back at me.

"Ah, Haruno-san! Here to see Ino-sempai?" She asked pleasantly. I nodded.

"You came in at a good time. She's ahead of schedule. Go right in!" The girl reassured. I smiled.

"All right." And I walked through the door, down the hall a few paces and knocked on the second door to the left.

"Yo forehead! Come in!" Ino greeted. She had already sensed me through the door. I opened the door and stepped in.

"Hey pig." I sat down leisurely in her chair, but I was nervous and she quickly caught on. How do I tell her I need to borrow money? I hadn't thought of that on my way here…

"What's going on?" Ino asked, a little bit of concern in her demeanor. "Everything all right?"

I sighed. "No, not exactly." I explained. I decided to start with Suchiru. "Your cousin's a player. I'm going to play him right back tonight." I informed. I don't like liars. Ino knows this.

She gasped.

"Sakura! Don't tell me you've slept with him and found out _after_!" She slammed her palms down on her desk and leaned forward, ponytail flinging around behind her. I gave her a sardonic smirk. No, the only person I've been "sleeping" with by technicality is Sasuke… but she didn't have to know that. For some reason, I wanted to keep that private from her. I felt like Sasuke and I sharing a bed was something…that only Sasuke and I should ever know about…

"No, no. Nothing like _that_… But he pretty much lied to my face, acted all sweet and then screwed Yuki-chan in my hospital! Could you believe that?" I crossed my arms at the memory of what I had found in room 204…

Ino gaped at me, surprised.

"What!?" Her shock was genuine. "You're kidding me; _in the hospital_!?" She screeched and her hand flew to grab onto her short side bangs.

"Shhhhh! Yes!" I hissed and blushed because I was worried someone would hear through the door. "A-anyway… um… here's the deal… I kind of don't have my wallet, and I'm going on a date with him tonight, just to show him who's the better player… and I need a killer outfit and heels and… I need to borrow some money…" I blushed, kicking my heel against her mahogany chair. I dared to look up at her. She had her pretty blue eyes narrowed.

"You're hiding something, forehead…" She glowered, but then smiled "innocently".

Fuuuuck. Ino wasn't stupid. Only anbu training kept me from sputtering and digging my hole deeper.

"You're here because you obviously can't go to the bank… because you must not have your ID. So you can't pull money out of your account. So either you _lost_ your entire wallet, or you just lost _access _to your wallet, temporarily… I wonder what could have happened… Spill, forehead, which is it?" She crossed her arms and leaned back in her leather chair with in a superior way.

"Okay." I sighed. There was no use in going around it anymore. She was doomed to know anyway… "I'll tell you everything, but you have to keep your mouth shut." I pleaded with my expression more than my voice. She smirked. "I _mean_ it. Pinky-swear me!" I insisted, because this was serious shit and I could _not_ have it spreading around!

Ino rolled her eyes and stuck out her pinky. I grabbed it with mine.

"I'll break this exact pinky if a _word_ comes out of your mouth, pig." I threatened and she held her free hand up.

"I promise I won't say a word. Just spill already, you're making me antsy!" She glared at me.

"Okay." I took a deep breath and let go of her pinky, leaning back in the cushioned, mahogany chair. This… was not going to be easy to explain… I felt my face heat up just _thinking_ about my situation and Sasuke last night... and this morning and all the other times he's proven that he's _different._ "Okay, okay!" I shook my head. Get a _grip_ Sakura! This is Ino, she'll give you the right advice! "I— remember when I had to go to Hofuku because your cousin wanted me to? Remember those tickets you gave me because you didn't want to go without Sai?"

Ino nodded, but I could see her giddy grin. Fuck. I had to look down at my feet, otherwise I'd get really embarrassed and not be able to explain properly.

"Okay… well… that night, I invited Sasuke to go with me. Because I had literally _no one _else to ask! I mean, I even asked Kiba and you know he's fucking horny but would you believe he _actually _had a date already for that night!? I was shit out of luck so I asked him, because fuck it, right? Why not?" I gave her my reasoning first so she would know it was because I was out of options, not because I _wanted_ to.

Ino gasped. "So, did he say yes!?" She asked, wide-eyed.

"Well… sort of. Before, we had agreed to have a drinking contest… so I used that as an excuse to get him to go. He said yeah, but because I was going to make him drink when he didn't want to he made me promise to go eat spicy food with him, the fucking jerk." I muttered, but then shook my head ignoring Ino's snort. "But that's not important! Whatever, we actually got _really _drunk at Hofuku and Temari and Shikamaru left early because, well I don't know, you know how they are, they probably left to go have wild sex; whatever— so I guess we were drunk and this girl hit her head on the bar and knocked my purse over. Sasuke picked up all the shit that fell out _except _my _stupid _apartment key! When we got back to the complex, I realized it was gone, so we argued because I would have just gone to stay with Naruto, but he _made_ me stay at his place—

"So now you're living with Sasuke until you get a new lock and key!" Ino squealed like the pig she was and bounced in her chair like that was a _good_ thing. I glared at her.

"Shut up! It's not cool! My fucking wallet is locked in my apartment till the locksmiths come by and Sasuke has been paying for _all_ of my shit! I owe him _so much money_ it makes me sick!" I snapped and crossed my arms.

"Ah, so that's why you're wearing brand new shirts. Sasuke-kun bought them for you!" Ino winked, daring to poke fun at me. She was such a bitch sometimes.

"_Don't _get the wrong idea. A bunch of genin girls bought me my clothes. You think I would actually _let _or rather _make_ Sasuke buy me clothes? No thanks!" I blushed, remembering last night. Should I tell her that things were… not okay in my head towards Sasuke too?

Ino rolled her eyes.

"When did you guys make up after the whole toilet-flushing/cold-shower drama?" She asked, confused. That's right, I haven't spoken about him to her since I found out he was my neighbor.

"I don't know, somewhere along the way… Bottom line, I don't want to owe my soul to Uchiha Sasuke for spending his fucking money so could you _please_ come shopping with me so I can get back at your cousin? _Please? _And please don't hold it against me? I bought you a _really _thought-out gift this year!" I gave her my watery eyes to show her that I was traumatized enough at this point. She smirked evilly anyway. I hate her. I hate Yamanaka Ino as much as I fucking love her.

"Okay… but you have to answer every one of my questions honestly while on our shopping trip." She gave me a horrendously evil smile and I wanted to cry because she would find out _everything_ that's been going on, especially in my own head. I swallowed thickly, because this shopping trip would be a shopping trip, an interrogation, _and_ a game of shogi all in one.

"Fine, but you can't use Sasuke's name in public, because I _know _you're going to ask embarrassing questions! Okay?" Just in case someone overheard I didn't want rumors spreading. Dealing with everyone's BS at the hospital was messed up enough…

"Deal." Ino smirked. She picked up the telephone on her desk and called the brunette at the front desk.

"Sirako-chan? Yes. It's me. I have no further appointments today, do I? Oh. Just him, huh? It's okay. He's doing better. He's not a priority case. Just cancel that appointment and reschedule it for tomorrow morning or whenever he wants. I'm leaving early today. Okay, thanks, see you in a few!"

She placed the phone back in its spot on the desk and stood to stretch.

"This is going to be _great!_" She cheered, but I wasn't about to cheer with her because this was _not_ going to be great for _me_. I rolled my eyes.

Kami-sama, if today is my day to die, could you hurry it up, please?

-X-

So we were at a designer store, looking through dresses, and Ino was _grilling _me. I had told her that I found out Sasuke didn't care about hair length and we were wrong our entire childhood. Of course, she asked me _how_ I found out, but I told her it was during a game of Drink and Tell. I didn't tell her about dancing with him… or the way we had been touching that night and how it made me feel. I kept my answers as neutral as possible. Thankfully, Ino didn't directly ask me if anything, um, out of the ordinary happened at the club— she probably didn't expect Sasuke to rise to the challenge of dancing anyway— and she moved on to asking me _other_ embarrassing questions…

"So, Sasuke-kun's apartment is tiny like yours…" She pinpointed. Okay yes, Ino. It's as small as mine… where are you going with this? I clenched my jaw. I was _not _going to like this question.

"Um… yeah?"

"So… where are you sleeping?" She grinned as she picked up another dress; this one in deep, olive green. I wasn't going to like that dress. Ick.

But anyway, my blood ran cold. Fucking _fuck! _Leave it to Ino to find everything I don't want her to know! She was getting good at her job… I looked over at her discreetly, but froze when I realize she was reading my body language. Fuck. It was too late to lie.

"In his bed…" I replied slowly. She still didn't know I was sleeping in his bed with _him_ so I guess I'm still okay… Ino raised a blond eyebrow as she looked at the green dress again.

"…With him?" She slid her teal eyes back to me. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me so I didn't have to look at her knowing expression. I chanced a glance at her scrutinizing eyes and her gaze fucking melted me. I couldn't lie; not to her.

"…MMMMMMMMYES!…" I wailed and a woman shopping nearby looked at us strangely. "But it was an accident! I didn't want the couch, so when he was showering I commandeered his bed!" Yes. I _commandeered_ Uchiha Sasuke's bed. He had said it himself. There was _nothing_ wrong about commandeering your teammate's bed! Nothing! Nothing, right? RIGHT!?

Why… Why is she gaping at me? Fuck. _Fuck! _

"Sakura! You have some balls, really."

I looked at her, confused. That… wasn't the response I was expecting. I felt calmer now that she didn't make a big deal out of it.

"What do you mean? I trolled on Naruto's bed all the time…" I replied.

Ino rolled her eyes.

"Okay, you were drunk, but really, Naruto's the _nice_ guy. You know as well as I do that _he_ isn't 'the nice guy,' Sakura." "He" meaning Sasuke. What did she mean by that anyway? "But anyway, let me guess, he got pissed and wouldn't give up his bed so you two ended up sharing it; How cute?" She smirked at a blue dress that she pulled out after mercifully putting the green one back. Blue wasn't really my color, either. And we were _not_ "cute". We were just friends.

"Stop making it sound like my life is some shitty soap opera." I chastised her as I looked at some long dresses. I don't think wearing a long dress was good for tonight. I would need to show off my killer ass and my legs. I moved on to another section of the store. Ino followed close by.

"It's not a shitty soap opera, it's a _great _soap opera. Come on, you're honestly telling me that your situation with _him_ isn't novel-worthy? I think it is! You should write a book about it someday! You'd make some killer cash, seriously." Ino insisted.

"Ino. There is _nothing_ between us. 're not 'cute'." I insisted. We were _just_ friends. Yes, I wanted Sasuke in a sexual way too, but we were really _just friends_. I killed my feelings for him last night. I openly friend-zoned him in my mind _last night_… after _that_ happened. It was over. I won the battle. It was done.

"Nothing is always usually 'something' Sakura, seriously. You mean to tell me that you're not turned on sleeping next to a _really _hot guy but doing absolutely _nothing_ sexual with him every night? I'm not an idiot. Remember what happened with Naruto? Naruto wasn't even your first fixation, either." She responded.

"Please don't bring that up; I was _drunk_. And if you have to know, _yes_ I'm _physically _attracted to him. There would be something wrong with me if I wasn't. But it's just that: physical attraction. He's a man and he's handsome. That's it. Do I want to fuck him? Of course. But he's my friend now, so it's not going to happen. Like ever." I clarified.

"Uh huh…" Ino didn't sound convinced.

"Don't just 'uh-huh' me like you don't believe me! I don't love him Ino. I stopped loving him a long time ago. I'm not stupid anymore." I think I'm not stupid anymore, at least.

Ino became serious.

"So fuck him and get it over-with, then. He's single right? So are you. Just do it. Get him out of your system—

She held a hand up right there because I took a breath to argue her point.

—and before you freak out, _no_ I'm not saying that to embarrass you, I'm saying it because it might actually help you move on the rest of the way if you're still stuck on him." She shrugged and I knew her advice was genuine and well-thought-out. She was right, of course. Having sex with him might just make me realize that that's all there is between us and all there will ever be… but an instinct, or some intuition was telling me "no" and I didn't know how to explain that to her. I think I valued my friendship with him way more because whether or not I wanted to admit it, Sasuke was _supportive. _He proved that _again_ this morning. He was there for me, because we were _friends_. Why fuck that sort of thing up when I finally had someone I could rely on that I could actually trust? I knew Sasuke wouldn't screw me over. After everything he'd been through, I knew he was honest and loyal, or rather, he had _become _honest and loyal. I needed someone like that as a friend. Everyone else had grown so distant. Ino was literally the last person I had left to connect with and because her and Sai started dating she was becoming more and more distant. I didn't want to lose Sasuke either because of a one-time-sex-thing…

"Trust me, I'm over him. I went through enough guys to be _way_ over him." I responded officially in my laying-down-the-law tone.

Ino seemed to give me a calculating look as she shoved me into a fitting room and followed me in. She didn't say anything else on the matter though. The conversation slipped back to screwing over her cousin tonight and we were both cackling evilly as she helped me try on dress after dress after dress.

-X-

I love Ino. I really do. She's so Itachi-esque— playing both sides of the field like that. I mean, I used to _really _hate her character but _again_ Kishimoto is just _ass_ at portraying female characters so now that Ino is "older" in this fic I'm glad I gave her a chance to redeem her character too. Speaking of Kishimoto **(SPOILER DON'T READ PAST THIS IF YOU'RE NOT UP TO DATE WITH MANGA PLEASE SKIP TO BOLDED AREA BELOW)**, who is disappointed with Ino and Sakura in the manga currently? I am. He portrays women in such a shitty way. Like, I understand it's a shounen manga, but _still_. My god. After all that _shit _ as Sakura, I would _not_ be calling Sasuke "Sasuke-kun" and taking all of his insults and BS. No way. I wished Kishi would have made Sakura deck him the moment she saw him but _no_. _NO. _UGH. He writes such bad romances. And that thing with Ino and her fucking "perfect world" with Sasuke and Sai fighting over her. Ugh *rolls eyes* puh-_lease_ Ino has gotten _so _much more badass than that! Come _on_ Kishi! ARG!

**SPOILER OVER YOU CAN CONTINUE **

Anyway yeah, I like Ino's role in this fic. She's such a "ninja-cupid" it's great. Sasuke's POV is next and I'm excited to get writing! I'm so glad this chapter is over. I didn't know how to really go about this chapter. Not only was Sakura's perspective difficult to latch onto, but it was difficult just _not_ writing a lemon between Sasuke and Sakura. Like. They _so_ want each other_. _But I have _so_ much shit to write psychology-wise before anything like that can even happen. I'm still toying around with detailing the future events of this fic and because I'm so excited to just get to it, I feel like I have to triple-check myself and make sure I'm not rushing through this. Like, believe me, I erased this chapter and rewrote it three times. THREE TIMES. But I finally got it the way I wanted it! So I'm happy. Anyway, let me know if you're happy too! Review! And thank you to all the reviewers who reviewed anonymously! –hearts- you guys are great! Thank you to all of the people who faved, followed, and left a signed review too! I appreciate every ounce of love this fic gets!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO ™! I don't make any money writing this!

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	18. The Bonds I Made

KISEKI

|18|

This chapter is…. THIRTY-ONE PAGES LONG. I jumped into Sasuke's mind and I couldn't jump back out T_T. This entire chunk of story _had_ to be from his POV! Get ready for the surprises, the comedy, and of course, Sasuke's ero thoughts! Oh…. _And _his friendships. That too. That's BIG in this chapter! This one is all about Sasuke and the bonds he made post-war. Enjoy! As always thank you for the warm reviews and the fav's and follows! A lot of you liked the Ino/Sakura friendship. I liked it too. I was afraid it would come off cold, or incomplete, but I'm happy that it didn't. I haven't hung out with a girl in like… since December? I don't have many female friends. I just seem to get along with guys better so I'm eternally grateful that I didn't screw that up in this fic! As always enjoy!

-X-

"Again." I commanded the kid. It's almost noon. It's hot; the sun is unbearable today. There are no trees in the clearing we're in, so despite the fact that we're deep in the woods, the surrounding shade was useless. I had tossed off my shirt minutes ago, deciding I'd rather not have a heat stroke. Udon held up his hand and then bent over, placing both hands on his knees. He was panting, nearing exhaustion. I still waited, arms up, ready to go at it again. This kid was getting _good_; he couldn't quit now; that'd be _stupid_.

"Just… gimme a second, sensei." He spoke once he caught his breath. I smirked to myself. He'd started calling me that this morning. I guess it's official now.

"If you take more than a second your stamina is officially shit." I sourly spoke across the four foot gap of healthy, green grass between us. Somewhere above my head I heard a hawk call. I looked up as Udon straightened out in my peripheral vision, still gulping air greedily. Indeed, a hawk was soaring above our heads, carrying what looked like a decently-sized snake in its talons. I smirked at the symbolism behind the image; it reminded me of my victory over Orochimaru. I had been the only prey of his that managed to escape unscathed. When I looked back over to Udon he had tossed his shirt to the side as well. He had a mean look on his face, despite the round glasses that usually squashed any hope of him appearing threatening. He was ready to give it everything this time. Hn. _Good_. I narrowed my eyes in response.

"My stamina is _not_ shit." He argued against me, his words confident. Hearing those words were like music to my ears. He was getting used to my attitude and growing a fucking backbone and it's only been two days. Perfect. He'd be a way better shinobi in no time. I wondered why the hell he hadn't approached me sooner but remembered that I probably still looked threatening and have been extremely busy these last four years. Whatever; better late than never.

"Prove it, kid." And I launched at him. The last two days have taught me that this kid was good at dodging. He easily jumped to the side, out of the way of my blatant attack and threw three straight punches at me in return: 'classic Uchiha style move, but in the two days he had been practicing; or rather, _adjusting _to the right way of doing it, he had improved; and _remarkably _so. The move was executed perfectly. I blocked the successive hits and threw out a straight, powerful kick. He grabbed my leg, something that reminded me distinctly of Sakura and what she would do, actually, what she _did_ last night. He tried to pull me off balance, but I jumped forward, pushing off of my other leg and using the closeness of our torsos to my advantage. I threw _all_ of my weight at the kid. He just _barely _managed to dive out of the way at the last second, abandoning the idea of throwing me off. We jumped away from each other. He was panting, but not entirely out of over-exertion; he was partially panicked and honestly, I didn't blame him. I could be scary when I was serious, but he should be proud of himself. He had successfully made me _get _serious to begin-with, at least in taijutsu. That was _good,_ for a seventeen year old, anyway.

He moved to jump towards me, but stopped, nearly tripping over himself. Before he flailed I noticed he had looked at something, or rather some_one_ behind me. I turned around to face the familiar presence. _Naruto_. He stood there, in a black t-shirt and blinding orange shorts, arms crossed in an almost official way. He wasn't _angry_, no. But he was serious, tense. His back was rigid and too-straight to be here for a friendly visit.

"Oi." His voice was an octave deeper than usual. Hn, it was time for _this_ conversation to happen. Obviously he had gotten a response from Hiashi and realized he had never sent a letter in the first place… _and_ he wasn't happy about it.

"Not here or now." I responded quickly, and calmly, raising a hand to halt him because he was already taking a breath to grill me. Udon didn't need to get involved in our shit. I couldn't just think about myself anymore. "Let's go eat." I offered, only so the kid wouldn't get too nervous. Besides, it was about time to eat and discussing this particular shit-storm would go better if we were eating. Food made us both more agreeable, anyway. Naruto nodded.

"Um… Hi, Naruto-nii-chan." Udon waved at Naruto, despite the obvious tension in the air. Naruto gave him a wide grin and a thumbs-up, but he said nothing more. This is how I knew he was _impatient_ and eager to talk about what I did, or try to kill me for it, whichever one. I went to go pick up my shirt. I wasn't about to walk through Konoha without my shirt on. I picked it up and threw it over my head, turning to Udon to speak just as I popped my head through the center of the shirt.

"We'll finish this tomorrow. Keep Practicing. In a few days I'll take you to see Sakura about your eyes." I instructed as I pushed my arms through the short sleeves.

"Hai, sensei." Udon responded as he moved to grab his discarded clothing as well. I took off after that, Naruto not even a single pace behind me. We traveled in silence, surprisingly and by the time we reached the heated market, I was sweating a waterfall— it was _disgusting_ out today. I smirked, remembering that Suigetsu would hate it if he were here. He had ditched the alliance after the war, and I haven't run into him since. Ignoring curious looks, we entered an air conditioned café; something my brother would appreciate if he were alive. Itachi liked these kinds of places when he was still here. We'd go to a café with Shisui once a week before everything happened.

"Welcome! – Ah! Naruto-kun! It's wonderful to see you!" A nameless waitress greeted. She had short, boyish, brown hair and deep blue eyes. Despite her masculine cut she had a tiny face and a curvy figure that not even her bland uniform or apron could hide. There was no mistaking her for a male with or without makeup.

"It's good to see you too, Miri-nee-chan!" Naruto smiled back, though it was entirely fake. The girl was oblivious to the tension between us, but to our credit we were doing a fantastic job of hiding it.

"Let me get you your favorite table!" She smiled and we followed her past many couples and friends sitting at tables to a corner that was mercifully right under the vent that was blasting their A/C. I debated on slumping into the chair because I was hot, dehydrated and tired, but I decided not be melodramatic and sat with an air of grace instead.

"So, what to drink today, gentlemen?" Miri queried. She had pulled a pad and a pen out of the black apron she wore to write on. I desperately needed water… with ice… incredible amounts of ice, even though the vent above my head was rapidly cooling the sweat on my skin down. I was going to feel nasty in a few minutes. My shirt was drenched and I pitied the people in this establishment because I can't imagine myself smelling good at this point.

"I'll have a soda, Miri-nee." Naruto smiled.

"Oh, what kind?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"Watermelon." He shrugged.

"Okay, and you, Uchiha-sama?" She asked politely.

"Ice-water… please." I responded. I might as well be polite back. She didn't know me and we had never met, but she didn't listen to whatever bullshit was being spoken about me behind my back and she wasn't trying to hit on me either. I was grateful, to say the least.

"Okay, I'll be right back. The menus are right there if you guys are hungry!" She chirped, smiled and whirled around, leaving at a quick pace.

"So, mind telling me why Hinata-chan's _dad_ sent me a response to a letter I never wrote him?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms roughly, as if he actually _had_ me where he wanted me. Tch. He had another thing coming if he thought that _I _was the only one in hot water here. He had explaining to do too. Let the shit start rolling.

"Depends, do you mind telling me what he responded with?" I asked with a cocked brow. I was going out of my way to be a vague dick about things, too, only because I was still a little pissed about his back-alley tactics between Sakura and I... even though they _fucking_ worked; the asshole. Naruto sighed in a frustrated manner and grabbed a fistful of his blonde hair.

"I don't fucking get you sometimes, you know, teme? Why do you want to know?" He asked giving me a painful look, as if this conversation was not one he wanted to have. I could only imagine what the response in that letter was. If Hiashi said yes, then Naruto _would_ be stressed, assuming he didn't know how things were progressing between myself and Sakura, of course…. Assuming his goal was to stick us together somehow.

"Because I fucking want to know. You seem to _enjoy_ meddling in my life, so I decided to do some meddling with yours." I snapped back. He opened his mouth, ready to defend himself, but I cut him off as he took a breath to speak. "And don't you _fucking_ dare tell me you didn't screw around in my business. You _did_ and you know exactly how. I just don't know what your motives are. So you tell me why you moved me in next to Sakura, and I'll tell you why I wrote the letter." I explained, laying my terms out plainly. We had fought about my living situation with Sakura before, but he had never told me _why_. He had just _appeased_ my temper that time. Naruto sighed and rubbed his head. Things were about to get heavy if Naruto was the one stressed between the two of us; he was usually flippant about things like this. I crossed my arms as well, and I shuddered, because that was something my father always did when he was displeased with Itachi. I gripped the fabric of my sweat-dampened shirt to deal with the eerie nostalgia as Naruto collected his thoughts.

"This is embarassing…" He mumbled, but he composed himself anyway. "I moved you in next to Sakura-chan because…" He took a deep breath. "… Because I can't help her and there's something wrong. I think I messed her up worse than she was before…" He vaguely explained and trailed off. All right. So now the puzzle pieces were coming together. Naruto _did_ move me in next to Sakura because he wanted to basically _give _her to me to deal with… But he wanted me to _want_ to take her so he snuck around and waited for us to find out ourselves.

Now I had a few things confirmed; Naruto knew something was up with Sakura, as did Kakashi. Also, Kakashi wasn't lying when he spoke to me— not that he would, of course— After the "thing" with Naruto, Sakura _had_ gotten "worse"— whatever that meant because I didn't really _know_ her beforehand. Now, all I needed to know was what had fucked her up to begin-with, which is something Naruto would know… but obviously I have to give information first before I ask for more— I couldn't make this feel like an interrogation for him because he'd just stop talking if I did. I sighed and rubbed my temples beneath the comfortable fabric of my hitai-ate.

"I sent the letter because I knew you had moved me in next to her for a _reason_. You need to move on… the rest of the way." I replied vaguely hinting at what I thought his plan was, but he knew _exactly_ what I meant. He _had _to let Sakura go; he was indirectly hurting someone _and_ himself by not being a hundred percent committed, emotionally at least, to his current girlfriend, who I heard said she'd _die_ for him. His baggage was going to fuck him over, and I'd sooner cut my eyes out than let Naruto screw himself like that.

Speaking of which, Naruto was currently debating something in his head. I had never seen him study _anyone's _face so seriously, let alone mine, as if he were _scrambling _to connect my statement to something else. However, I had been clear and definitive. He couldn't take what I said in any other way but the way I meant for it to be taken in. Finally he blushed.

"You found out." He stated quietly— obviously in regards to what happened between himself and Sakura, but he was being vague to see how much I knew, exactly. Well, fuck him. I could be vague too, so I shrugged.

"Depends. What do you _think_ I found out." I responded, because I wanted to be an asshole, get away with it _and_ get the _whole_ story— not just a misinformed version of his point of view. I wanted every detail. The less he knew about what I _did_ or didn't know, the more detail he'd give me, assuming he'd be passive enough to just start talking at this point. I waited and his red cheeks faded back to their regular tanned color. He glared at me. My callous response obviously pissed him off. My stress level rose slightly. We were _never_ like this. _Ever_. We were as frank and open as possible towards each other. We were both used to playing "social shogi" with other people, but not each other. He was as on-edge as I was. This was _fucked_ up to say the least, but we had to get it over-with so I sat there and waited for him to respond. He sounded dangerous when he finally spoke.

"This isn't a game, teme." He warned. He actually _warned_. I was impressed.

Just then, Miri, that was her name, right(?)— whatever— our waitress showed up with our drinks.

"Here you guys go! Want anything to eat?" She asked as Naruto beamed like the sun itself at her. I had to give him credit where it was due; he was good as feigning happiness. I, on the other hand, wasn't so blatantly sunny towards her. I was tense and I wasn't about to be dishonest about that. I could give a shit less about what others thought of me or my attitude, even _if_ she was polite and didn't judge me. I didn't respond immediately, so Naruto did instead.

"Green tea ice cream, Miri-chan, please!" Naruto asked. She penned the order down. For some reason, now all I could think about was _Sakura_ and what _exactly _had transpired between her and Naruto. Ino told me Sakura said she had kissed Naruto and he had stopped her from going any farther— _but_ Sakura was troubled at the time… So did Sakura _lie_ to Ino when she told her about it the next morning? Let's see if Naruto's story coincides. Pink hair. Green eyes. Red clothes. Sakura was bright and colorful. Her memory made me suddenly want something sweet. My blood sugar had probably tanked from sparring with Udon, anyway.

"The same." I responded curtly. I could tell Miri had just understood what was going on. She was suddenly very aware of my and Naruto's tenseness.

"O…kay… Anything else?" She tried very hard to ignore the awkwardness between us all.

"No thank you, Miri-chan. Arigato." Naruto smiled apologetically. I looked at the ice in my water. Naruto's tone was gentle. That was something I don't think I could ever accomplish with mine. Ever.

"I'll be right back, then! Enjoy your drinks and let me know if you guys need anything else in the meantime!" She gave Naruto and encouraging smile before she waved and took off again.

Naruto popped the little marble into his bottle of soda to open it as he thanked the retreating girl once again. The disgusting chemical drink fizzed and he lifted the glass bottle up and drank it down. I grimaced at my ice and drank down half my glass of water wiping the excess liquid from my mouth with the back of my hand. I chose to speak.

"No games, Naruto. You're going to tell me exactly what fucked her up and how you made it worse." I responded quietly, but dangerously. I wasn't fucking around anymore. I needed to know where I stood in this mess and how truthful Sakura had been to Ino and how much of the story I really did know and understand and how much I was missing.

Naruto put his bottle of soda down and studied me. I had never seen him so concentrated. Tsunade did a hell of a number on him; I was impressed. If anything, the woman should receive a medal of honor and some sort of trophy. I'd never seen Naruto _actually _think before he said something. It slightly made me nervous because I didn't know how to handle him this way. Granted, I had seen him maneuver his way diplomatically on missions before, but it's been a while since we had a mission together and quite a while since he started spending most of his time at the tower with Tsunade. It was awe-inspiring to see him in action, using whatever political training and know-how Tsunade had put him through. For once, I didn't know how to predict him. Whether you believe me or not, his unpredictability was what was always so predictable about him.

"You figured it out. You didn't find out." He finally stated with confidence and paused to watch me, intently, for any sort of reaction. I gave him _no_ response, emotional or physical or otherwise.

I had _suspected_ something like what happened between Naruto and Sakura before I actually actively went to _find_ out information, so technically _yes_ he was right— I had _figured_ something was up. He didn't know who I went to to peel the information out of, though, and he would _never_ know if I had my way. I promised Ino that none of what she told me would find its way back to her. I had to keep that promise because there was no doubt that she was keeping her end of the bargain we made as well. It's been a full twenty-four hours since I talked to her about having feelings for Sakura and not a single person knew aside from Kakashi and _maybe_ now Naruto because he was about to find out and that was because of my own doing.

Naruto sighed, giving up on deciphering my expression, since it was completely closed off to him.

"You're a fucking brick wall, teme… Are you mad?" He asked, sincerely. I relaxed a little because there was just the tiniest bit of remorse in his voice.

"I'm not angry." But I _was _some time ago. And even then, I wasn't mad at _him_ exactly. I was mad at myself for being aloof and uninvolved. I was mad at myself for actually getting _jealous_ for no reason. I was mad because suspecting something like that made me feel like shit about myself, because indefinitely, towards Sakura, Naruto had _always_ been the better _man._ Anyway, he nodded and took a long drink of his soda. I could see him thinking about how to tell me everything.

"You understand that I _had_ to move you in next to her like _that_ right? You wouldn't have listened to me if I went to just ask you to live there and help me out." He explained. I nodded and I felt most of the tension diffuse. He was nervous because he thought I was mad at him. I was nervous because I thought he wouldn't give me answers. Now that that the misunderstanding was diffused, I tensed up again because I didn't know how much I was going to like of his version of the story. He was going to be honest. I could see it in his eyes and in his face. He wasn't planning on lying and he didn't know how much of it I knew or didn't know, so I would get the honest and _raw_ truth.

And I probably won't like it at all, but I need to know what I'm up against.

"I would have told you to fuck off." I supplied in an easy tone, and Naruto snorted. Good. He was even more relaxed now. His shoulders tensed again and he groaned.

"Ah… all right… I guess, it really started after the war, while you were given your probation…"

That long ago? Sakura had never gone to see me after that day on the battlefield, come to think of it; not once— Not when I was in temporary holding and not even while I was under probation and house arrest at Naruto's apartment. She hadn't shown up to talk, which I figured I deserved at the time, but I only remember being pissed about it _once_ when Kakashi mentioned he was going on a mission with her and I _remembered _ that she _should_ care; she was Sakura after all, and Sakura had been infatuated with me and had even loved me practically our entire lives. I got over her coldness too fast, now that I think about it, because I didn't really see her for four years after that, despite living in the same village… and I wasn't really _that_ bothered by it, though that was probably because I was too busy to think about it. I always had a rank to achieve, always had a mission, always had to prove someone wrong about me. There was just no time to think about what Sakura thought about me.

"…Sakura-chan went on a lot of missions, but mostly… baa-chan sent her to do a lot of "cleaning up"— I don't even really know what that means. But anyway, she just… came back all different after a while. I don't really know what she saw or what she did because she never told _anyone_ about it, but she started to drink a lot. Like every night. Before, she would _never_! I only found out after I found the sake bottles in her apartment while looking for something to eat at her place one night. She got mad and then just started going to bars instead. A lot of people thought it was funny that she was drinking because she was being a lot like baa-chan, but… I didn't find it funny. I was worried and I said that if she ever needed to stay at my place she could. One night she dropped by because she liked to drink at this bar close to my place because it was cheaper and she was _so_ drunk, teme, I swear I think she forgot the sky was up and the ground was down. I don't know how she made it to my place without getting lost. Anyway, she slept over. And then before I knew it she was at my apartment at least once or twice a week after that. She only came by when she was _really_ drunk."

I let him talk. I wanted to know what she would say or do when she was there, but I didn't want to throw him off track and this was good enough for now. He'd give me details eventually, I just had to be patient. Just keep talking Naruto… I had to force my fingers to relax around my glass of water. Why didn't he tell me? How bad was it when she was there? Was it not bad enough to tell someone else? _Why wasn't I there_? _Why didn't she think about me? _I stomped down the self-deprecating feelings. They would do me no good.

"She wouldn't ever really talk about what was bugging her because she couldn't really remember. She would talk about things that didn't matter like… I don't know, like what Kakashi-sensei would be like if he lost his books or whatever— things that didn't matter. But one night, she went out right after she came back from a mission. I remember because I remember being excited that she was coming back that day because I thought maybe we could all get ramen together like old times, but I didn't see her all day. I even went out to look for her. Anyway, she showed up at my apartment that night… And she was just there, crying, hugging herself at the door. I didn't know why she was crying so bad, so I hugged her."

'Shouldn't have done that, Naruto…

"She kept calling herself stupid and worthless and useless and all these horrible things. So I told her that she was none of that, because she's not-ttebayo!"

He got _really_ upset here and I could tell by the pain in his face that he was remembering everything clear as day. He wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking at the table.

"I was so upset. She wouldn't stop saying those things. I asked her why. I think… at this point…"

He turned red again as he trailed off. This is the part that I was going to _hate_. I suddenly felt very… _odd_. It was just _odd_ seeing someone so loyal… talk about someone that he _wasn't _with… I realized I had to make an exception because Sakura was the first person Naruto loved. He had a crush on her since forever and it's not like anything _heavy_ happened right? This was before he was with Hinata anyway.

"Well, I think I sat her on the bed and she was still crying. But she… asked me if I loved her..."

What? I glared at my glass. Duh, Sakura, what did you _think_ he was going to say? "No, fuck you"? Ugh… but she was drunk, of course she was going to say and ask stupid and regrettable shit. Ugh? Why _that_ question of all things, Sakura? Why?

"So I fucking said yes, because it was the truth! What else was I supposed to do, teme, _lie_ to her? Fuck that-ttebayo!"

I nodded. He didn't fuck up; not there at least. He was just being honest. If Sakura wanted to bring the conversation there, then who was he to not talk to her about that sort of thing especially when she was drunk and emotional? I would have been honest in his position too.

"And then she cried and just… I don't know… she started kissing me." He sounded sad as he looked at his soda.

"Here's your ice cream!" I was so into Naruto's side of the situation that I _actually_ jumped at the ear-piercingly cheery voice. It did _not_ belong in this conversation and I was mad as all hell that Miri had interrupted. A small, round bowl of green tea ice cream and a spoon was placed in front of me, an almost identical one in front of Naruto. I was so pissed I half didn't want it anymore.

"Arigato." I bit out. Naruto nodded, and awkwardly, Miri left. I started to dig at the sweet, cold, dessert as Naruto continued, because I needed to do _something_.

"So… I kissed her back… and… I didn't— I _couldn't_ stop until she… started taking her clothes off…"

_Fucking what!? _I think I stabbed my ice cream too hard. My spoon got stuck in the dessert and I was too shocked to be able to pull it out. I looked up at him. He didn't look at me. His eyes were down and he was obviously embarrassed and sad. He was miserable. Clearly. Even his usually straight shoulders were slumped.

"I mean, I realized that she was _drunk_ and not right, and all messed up, so I stopped her before anything else happened. She just wasn't thinking straight and I didn't want to complicate things if she was just doing things because she _really_ wasn't right in the head." He assured and _damn it_ if it were me in his place it wouldn't have happened the same way. He has the self-control of a saint… or a fucking virgin; whatever. Again, he did the _right_ thing. I frowned, because he's probably _still_ a better person than I am.

"I left her there and went to sleep on my couch. She cried till about three in the morning and finally fell asleep. She woke up later and went into my living room. She didn't forget what happened. I was pretty mad so I asked her what that was all about. I said I loved her and I asked her if she loved me too because she was asking me if I loved her last night before she, you know…. Anyway, she said she liked me but that she couldn't be with me, because she didn't deserve me. How messed up is that? I loved her my _whole_ life and she tells me she can't love me because she feels like she isn't good enough!"

He scooped a bit of his ice cream in a quick motion, letting the anger he was feeling slip a little. He was _still_ mad about it. I finally got my spoon free; I felt hollow. They had _almost _had sex. _Sakura _had almost _fucked _Naruto… because she was drunk. It would have been the _biggest _mistake of her entire life. She would have destroyed Naruto and in turn, would have destroyed herself. She may have liked him but even she knew she didn't _love_ him. She couldn't love him. They would just never work out. She _knew_ that. Ino wasn't lying when she said that Sakura knew Naruto is her anti-Sakura, but Sakura had lied to Ino. Who the _fuck_ had she turned into? Or rather, _what_ had twisted her so badly? I wanted to find it and make it go away so she could just be _Sakura_ again.

"So I yelled back at her. I told her that was stupid and insane and didn't even make sense. She got really mad. She said I didn't 'get it'— that I would never 'get it' and that there was no one that would ever 'get it'. I don't even know what 'it' is! I still don't know-ttebayo!" I dodged some of his spit, mixed with ice cream. He was glaring at the table, still not looking at me. He chewed a spoonful of ice cream angrily and took a quick swig of his soda. Yeah, she had driven him _nuts_ no wonder he couldn't take any more of it and finally pushed me into doing something about it, whether I liked it or not.

"Anyway she just kept telling me not to push it; and that she couldn't and wouldn't be with me even though I begged her to give it a shot. I promised I'd make her happy and that she just had to let me help her and talk to me. That's all I wanted, teme, just for her to tell me and be honest but she just said to drop it. I was so pissed I was _crying_, but I still loved her so I just agreed because it was what she wanted. She never wanted to talk about that night again and she wanted it to be like it never happened. She said that that would make her happy. So I promised her I'd leave it alone. She left on a really long mission. When she came back and found out that I was dating Hinata-chan things seemed better, but as soon as she got back that same week she just kinda left again. She kept going on almost back-to-back missions then. Now we're just better off not spending too much time together… it's weird sometimes and it's sad and it hurts."

Naruto didn't know it, but he was chewing on the inside of his lip, _visibly_. It frustrated him to think about everything, obviously and I could understand why. He never got closure, but at the same time Sakura had hurt him and even made him cry, how could she bring herself to hurt him more by telling him the truth— that she would just end up hurting him and they'd break up if they dated? Furthermore, he wouldn't _accept_ the truth even if she told him. It was a fucked up lose-lose situation and though her actions were initially stupid, Sakura had managed to salvage whatever friendship she still had with Naruto by telling him to never speak of what happened again.

He rubbed his head in frustration again. I didn't know what to say, so I continued eating, staring at the green ice cream disappearing as I scooped it over and over again. I wasn't really tasting the sweetness of the ice cream anyway— I was still partially in shock and absorbing everything he had told me. The voices of the people chatting around us seemed light and airy compared to our conversation. A few silent, tense moments passed.

"I know she really thinks we're not right for each other…" He finally admitted.

I made sure not to widen my eyes, because Naruto had figured it out, for once. He was usually always out of the loop, but I guess he found his way in this time.

"I think she doesn't want to tell me. I think she thinks that I would pressure her into being with me so we could try it out." He continued, a little bit more coldly.

"You're with Hinata." I reminded. Because that was _important_. Didn't Naruto love her, or was that a lie? I watched as his entire face softened and he smiled at his ice cream like it was his newborn baby. Yes. He _loved_ her in a way he could _never_ love Sakura.

"Yeah. She helped me a lot. She helped me understand. She was there for me when Sakura-chan just ditched."

Now I visibly showed my shock. _Hinata knew_? She _knew_ about _all _of this? Is _that_ how she and Naruto got together? She was just _there_ after all of this? What a fucking idiot Naruto was being…

"So, you're using her." I challenged. I had to see how committed he was.

"_What?" _He spat the word like it was poison. "_I'm not using her!_" He hissed like the idea itself was repulsive. I swear I saw the tension in his body. He was ready to stand up and flip this entire table because I had made an assumption that was clearly not true. Was Nauto over Sakura, then?

"But you're not over Sakura." I countered. And he frowned, and then shook his head.

"No I'm over her. Most of the way. Sometimes I dream that she _does_ give it a chance…" He looked torn as he looked at me to tell me. He was guilty and I could tell he felt _dirty _for even thinking that way. He was still stuck somewhere in-between because no one ever laid down the law and told him how it _really _was. This task was left to _me_ by none other than kami-sama, who seemed to have a cruel sense of humor. I wanted to roll my eyes. Why did _I _have to be the asshole?

"So you're afraid of commitment because of the possibility that Sakura may change her mind. That's why you won't outright tell Hiashi you're dating Hinata and why you're angry I just went ahead and did it for you." I explained for him. He studied his ice cream as it slightly melted in the cup, despite the blasting A/C in the café.

"… Yeah…" He finally agreed, like someone told him he had a terminal illness and he was _just now_ coming to terms with it.

"You moved me in next to her because you knew I would start digging around. Because you wanted me involved but you needed me committed so you decided to make me involve myself." I repeated. He shrugged.

"Pretty much. I was hoping you'd fall into the trap and you did." He gave me a lop-sided grin and I glared at him. I sighed, however and let go of my aggravation. It didn't matter now.

"You're fucking annoying." I replied and continued eating, as if I didn't have a care in the world. He choked on his ice cream.

"Eeeeeh!? After all that _that's _what you say!? That doesn't help me, teme!" He freaked and a few people looked at us but turned right the fuck around when I glared at them. I sighed.

"Hn." Fine then. I swallowed my spoonful of ice cream and put my spoon down because I was going to _have _to give Naruto a hard pill to swallow. "Stop thinking with your dick and open your fucking eyes. You have a woman who loves you and you blatantly love her back. I said her fucking name and you looked at your food like it was a gift from kami-sama. Let go of Sakura and marry your girlfriend, dobe. You were never compatible with her anyway. She knows it. You know it. I fucking know it." I half-snapped. If he needed it all said and established by someone who had gotten to know and figure out Sakura's fucked up head, then I just did it for him.

He smiled. He _fucking _smiled. I don't even know why. He just _grinned _at me like I had cleansed him of some curse.

"Thanks, teme. I needed to hear that. You probably don't know, but you and Sakura-chan think a lot alike. Hearing that from you helps a lot, because it's probably something she would think too."

So in the end, I was moved next to Sakura because Naruto needed closure and didn't want to bug Sakura for it, so he went in a _big _circle and had _me_ give it to him instead _because she and I think alike_. He wanted me to talk to her, get to know her and then tell me if his theory was right at some point. I was amazed. I stared at him, dumbstruck. I felt… _mind-fucked_; like Itachi had just unleashed Tsukuyomi on me _again_. I didn't think Naruto was capable of weaving such an intricate web but he _fucking _did it, to my utter and complete surprise. I _still_ couldn't believe that this wasn't some _elaborate plot_ to make the two of us fall for each other. This was all just so Naruto could move on and be genuinely happy without any burdens. I had assumed wrong.

…

…

…

Fuck me.

"Oh by the way, do you like Sakura-chan?" He asked and he was _genuinely _curious, but I caught just a _faint_ glimpse of mischief in his ultra-blue eyes. The bastard. He _may_ have thought of that happening as a possibility and factored it as a benefit to him in the end. He was… fucking _good_. What has the godaime been teaching him? If he kept this shit up he could just _trick_ the rest of the world into peace…

I shook my head.

"Why does that matter?" I glowered. He gave me a hard look. I decided to cut the bullshit out because I _did_ need him to help me with her to some extent, maybe. It definitely _wouldn't _help to have him against me, certainly. Sakura still respected him and valued his opinion. I sighed, feeling a headache come on.

"I do, but she's over me." I revealed. I secretly prayed that Naruto would laugh in my face and tell me I was wrong.

Nope.

Naruto frowned, apologetically.

"I don't know when that happened, teme." Even his tone was apologetic, as if he were _apologizing _for Sakura not giving a shit anymore. Fuck, it isn't _his _fault and I wish he would stop taking responsibility for his teammates being fucked up. First he took responsibility for everything I did, now he's doing it with Sakura. How big is his heart, really? I glared at him. He sighed and rubbed his head _again_. "I miss Sakura-chan. After the war she just… changed. I'm sorry she's not the same." He frowned and I realized that he thought he had fucked Sakura up worse just because of his stupid sense of responsibility. Sakura had fucked herself up worse. Not Naruto. He didn't deserve this bullshit.

"It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself." I snapped. "She doesn't give a shit anymore because _I_ fucked up, not because _you_ fucked up. You didn't even fuck up. Just let me handle it." I grumbled stressfully. Speaking of letting me handle things… "What did Hiashi say anyway?" I asked.

Naruto gave me a sly grin. He welcomed the change of topic, utterly done with feeling like shit. Just like that, the air seemed to clear and I felt like I could breathe easy again, without a weight the size of Choji on my chest.

"You're fucking _good_ teme; he actually believed it was me writing to him! He said he knew already and that I could never hide from a Hyuuga's eyes…" He looked around paranoid, and then leaned over to whisper to me, covering his mouth with his hand. "Which I think is _really _creepy, like seriously, how is Hinata-chan related to him?" And then he leaned back. "But anyway, he knew and he's cool with it." Naruto shrugged. "You think I should marry Hinata-chan, though?" He needed to ask if my opinion was still the same after I found everything out. Dobe. Of _course_ he should marry her.

I shrugged. "If you love her." Now I smirked. "But you have it _bad_ for her, so you might as well." I _had_ to pick on him, because his love-struck expression at his stupid ice-cream was _too_ easy to attack. All I did was remind him that he was with her and he smiled at his dessert like he could kiss it. He tossed a crumpled tissue at my head— which I didn't even see him grab or crumple— but I dodged it with ease anyway. I wasn't going to let him have that one, either. Thankfully, it bounced off of the wall behind me and fell on the floor. No casualties. I looked over at him and he was grinning, and his fucking face was the color of Karin's hair.

"You're gonna be my best man, you know that?" He pointed at me with his spoon. I smirked slyly at that idea. Hiashi would _hate _that. The Uchiha and the Hyuuga were always rivals, of course. It would be _unheard _of to have an Uchiha be a best man at a mostly _Hyuuga_ wedding. The old bats of the clan would have heart attacks.

"Even if the old man gives you a problem about it?" I asked, because it was likely that those old bats would give him shit about it.

"Tch, it's not _his_ wedding." Naruto responded as if only an idiot wouldn't know that.

I smirked. And _that's _why Naruto will be a good hokage.

-X-

We felt girly after getting ice cream, especially together, so after the café we ate some _real _food, because apparently if Sai ever found out we'd _both_ be called "dickless" afterwards. Oh, and by "real food", Naruto meant ramen, so we grabbed our usual spots at Ichiraku's.

"Ah! Naruto! Welcome back!" Old man Teuchi grinned. Ayame waved at us both, and I swore that when she turned to the side she was bigger than the last time we were there. I grimaced to myself. I had no clue who the father was, but, didn't he feel bad for doing that to her? It must be a pain to be so big after being so small your whole life. I decided to stare at the menu instead, because the last thing I wanted to think about was pregnant women. I smirked because I remembered I _still _had to have something spicy with Sakura. Maybe if she was up for it we'd have something particularly hot after training tomorrow…

Suddenly, as if kami-sama was reading my mind, a flash of pink caught my eye and I snapped my head to the side. I analyzed the entire street of civilians that I could see through the gap at the edge of the stand, wondering if I was starting to hallucinate from thinking about Sakura too much.

"Teme?" Naruto asked, entirely unaware of what I had seen. I narrowed my eyes at the street. Maybe I was just seeing things? Girls liked to wear pink. Especially civilian girls. Maybe it was just me…

"I thought I saw Sakura." I explained.

Naruto gave me a squinty-eyed grin.

"You _did_, teme. She's right on top of us. OOOOI! SAKURA-CHAN! INO!" He called over his shoulder. My eyes widened and I spun my barstool around and there the two appeared, Sakura carrying two, huge black and white shopping bags looped around each of her arms. Her hands were on her wide hips and I had to fight to keep my eyes on her peeved expression. She had _a lot _of enticing parts to look at.

"You and your stupid feeling-sensing, Naruto!" She muttered and the blonde turned around and opened his arms. She rolled her eyes and hugged him. My eyes caught Ino's. She didn't know I had found out Naruto's side of the story. I wouldn't tell her if she asked. I wasn't going to just rat out Sakura and make Ino bring up painful memories with her. Honestly, I think she shrugged in response to me because she thought I was looking to her to make Naruto and Sakura stop hugging… If she thought I was possessive to _that_ extent she clearly hadn't visited my mind enough times.

"I saw Orange and black, so we decided to visit." She explained as Sakura wiggled her way out of Naruto's embrace.

"That's funny; teme saw pink when I sensed you guys. Speaking of which, Sakura-chan, you should get a wig for missions. I mean _I _didn't see you, but _he_ did. That could be dangerous on a solo." He frowned. Sakura rolled her eyes. Wow… the day that _Naruto_ lectured Sakura had finally come… I was impressed.

"Yes, _father_, if you wish." And Sakura artistically over-exaggerated a bow, made comical by her heavy shopping bags, and took a seat between myself and Naruto as Ino wisely chose to sit next to the blonde.

"Sakura, you're not seriously considering eating this stuff before tonight, are you?" Ino glowered as she sat.

I heard my temporary roommate's stomach rumble a little. I glared at Ino practically straight through Naruto's head. Sakura could eat whatever the _fuck_ she wanted to eat; what business was that of Ino's? Sakura confidently laughed, to my surprise, and I realized that that thought was… a little over-protective. I gave the mini-menu in my hands a tiny smile, glad that Sakura could fully defend herself.

"I eat what I want, pig. I get more exercise than you, remember?" She whipped her head to the side to snap back at Ino and I dodged the end of her ponytail just in time. Hn. Exactly. And that comment about the exercise was sharp. Ouch.

"Whatever." I heard the eye-roll in Ino's tone. Good. Sakura had shut her up.

"What will it be, ladies?" Teuchi politely asked.

"I'll have my usually _lightly_ spiced miso, Teuchi-san, please!" Sakura grinned.

I could have interjected there and had the man make it _extra _spicy and Sakura would have not been able to do anything about it, but I decided against it. I didn't want her to have any problems tonight. She was supposed to castrate Yamanaka later and I wanted her to be in pique form when she did that.

"I'm not hungry, Teuchi-san, thank you." Ino politely declined.

"My regular, ji-ji!" Naruto grinned.

"Extra spicy miso, please." I ordered last and I smirked when I saw Sakura's eyes widen at the mention of extra spice. It appears she forgot about our deal. I turned to her and smirked at her wide-eyed look.

"Another day." I whispered quietly so the other two wouldn't hear us. She nodded.

"What did you buy?" Naruto asked.

I looked at her bags with distaste. _I_ wanted to buy her things. How did she even find the mon— oh right, Ino. Sakura blushed. I glared at the bag more. What was in it? I found myself leaning slightly over to peak down into the bag that was still around one of her arms. Sakura clutched it to her chest like a lifeline and glared at me.

"Nosy Uchiha." She sniffed and Naruto howled with laughter.

"Aw, come on, Sakura-chan what is it?" Naruto asked in good humor. Sakura turned a little in her chair and gave Naruto a wry smirk. I had to hand it to them, they did a good job of hiding the fact that anything happened between them in public.

"It's a man-killing tool." She deadpanned. I cocked an eyebrow. She looked over at me and her and Ino started laughing at me. I didn't get it. A man-killing tool? What the _fuck_ was she going to do to Yamanaka tonight? Should I be _afraid_ of what was in the bag? Ino pointed at my face, then at Naruto's. I'm assuming we were wearing the same confused expression.

"You guys are so weird. It's just a dress." Sakura revealed with a shrug as Ino's laughter died down.

"Oh, you could've said that—ttebayo!" Naruto frowned. Yeah, what the fuck, I was afraid of her bringing it into my apartment. You never know, nowadays…

"How do you kill a guy with a dress anyway?" Naruto grumbled and Teuchi behind the bar snickered to himself. I saw Ayame flash a knowing smile as she stirred noodles in a pot. Oh. It was _that_ kind of dress.

"Maybe you'll see one day. Hinata has more to kill with than I do, anyway." Sakura sniffed with a wave of her hand. Naruto's eyes saddened, but the emotion was only visible to me.

Don't respond to the comment, Naruto. Remember what we talked about? It's _not_ your fault. I think he felt my glare because he cut out his internal bullshit and grinned instead, rubbing the back of his head.

"You mean her boo—

Sakura decked his shoulder, hard and I saw anger in her eyes.

"_Yes_herfuckingboobs! Ugh! Her and Tsunade-sama, seriously!" Sakura groaned and ran a hand through her hair. I smirked to myself. Sakura wasn't bad when it came to breast size, in my opinion. She had breasts, it's not like they were nonexistent like she made them seem, they were just not obnoxiously large. She had a lean and petite build anyway, so they matched her body perfectly. Besides, her ass and legs made up for any extra breast tissue she wasn't blessed with. What the _fuck_ was she worrying for? I bit my tongue. I wasn't about to contribute to the conversation anyway.

Just shut the fuck up, Sasuke. It will be better if you don't comment.

"Ne, Sa-ku-ra, boobs aren't everything!" Ino tried to appease, but I felt Sakura's agitation rise anyway.

"Uh-huh, says the one with the full chest, Ino-pig. Maybe it's 'cause you ate more when we were genin!" Sakura stuck her tongue out but both her and Ino laughed anyway.

"Maybe all that barbeque with Choji and Shikamaru paid off in some way." Ino winked. "Not like _ramen_." She hissed in a whisper only us ninja could hear, but Naruto snapped his chopsticks in half.

"You…" He stormed frighteningly at the insult, and Sakura put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "… Take that back or I'll demote you when I become rokudaime!" He threatened.

Ino laughed haughtily.

"You still have to pass a final psych eval before you're promoted that high." She stuck her tongue out at Naruto. "New rules." She waved her finger at him and he comically pretended to try to catch it and snap it in half, like he did with his chopsticks.

"I'm a hero, rules can suck my _dick_." Naruto grinned and Sakura smacked him across the shoulder blade.

"Language, Naruto!" She warned.

"Oh don't worry, he doesn't have a dick for anyone to suck, remember?" The voice was familiar. Sai joined us, taking a seat next to Ino, wrapping his arm around her leisurely. I smirked at his comment. Very well-placed.

"Sai!" Ino grinned and hugged him. He hugged her back as if Naruto _wasn't_ livid just a couple of seats away from him.

"Save that shit-talking for the training grounds, ink-teme!" Naruto snarled.

"Oh, when would you like to lose? Later today, or perhaps tomorrow?" Sai asked.

"I'd like to hand your ass to you _today_ after I finish my ramen, actually." Naruto bantered back as Ayame slipped him a new pair of chopsticks to replace the ones he broke. He flashed her an apologetic grin.

"Then I'll see you there." He ignored him for Ino. "Come with me; I have something to show you." He tipped his head towards the street and Ino smiled, then turned a bashful, apologetic expression towards Sakura, over Naruto's shoulders.

"Gomen, Sakura, I know I was supposed to help you do your hair and stuff, but—

"Just go." Sakura waved off, not even paying attention to her. "I'll tell you about everything that happens tonight some other time." She explained.

Ino winked at her and trailed after Sai who waved to both myself and Naruto. I found that I actually waved back in sync with Naruto. I was partially unhappy with Sai when I first met him, but it was clear he had a lot of wit and had given a shit about Naruto and Sakura when I wasn't there. I could respect that sort of thing. The couple walked off and a wave of nostalgia hit me as I realized that that left just me, Naruto and Sakura here at Ichiraku. And we were all in our respective seats, Sakura in between the two of us.

Slowly, Sakura set her bags down on the floor by her bar stool. I casually slid my eyes towards the floor when she asked Naruto how his day was. All I could see was black fabric. Sakura's dress was going to be black. I smirked, because it was comical to me. She wore brigh red and white with me. Those were flashy, romantic colors. But with Suchiru, she's wearing black, as if for a funeral. And then I thought, well, _someone_'s going to have to mourn the loss of his dick… I snickered to myself and it was only a few seconds later that I noticed Naruto and Sakura were staring at me. Naruto looked at me like I had ten heads.

"You look like Orochimaru on a particularly exciting day…" Naruto mentioned teasingly. Sakura backhanded him in the chest. He wasn't affected.

"Sasuke looks _nothing_ like Orochimaru." She defended, peeved. And Naruto snickered.

"When he thinks evil shit he does! Look at his face!" And he pointed at me but by then I had wiped my assholistic thoughts completely out of my head and replaced my expression with a glare.

"Don't compare me to scum." I growled.

"Yeesh, both of you have something up your asses today. It was a joke. Was it too soon?" Naruto asked as three bowls of ramen were placed on the bar in front of us.

"Enjoy!" Ayame grinned.

"Yooooosh! ItadakimaaaaasuuuU!" Naruto practically flew into his bowl with his chopsticks and I felt sorry for Sakura, since she was sitting directly next to him. I hooked the bottom of her barstool with my foot and used a little chakra to pull her chair closer to mine. She shot me a grateful smile as she broke apart her chopsticks. At least now she wouldn't get ramen broth all over her arm… And she was closer… I rather liked her close to me. It reminded me of how we used to be on missions as kids. I had protected her a lot. Naruto did too, but she always preferred to walk closer to me. Always.

"How was training with Udon?" Sakura asked politely and I felt myself smiling. She was starting to open up a little.

"He learns fast. He wants to take the jounin exams." I replied. The kid was good and learned fast. I had about a month to make him deadlier.

"Are you going to recommend him?" She asked. I nodded.

"But only after you check his eyes. I think he's gradually losing his vision." Oh yeah, there's that. If he's going to take the exam in a month he's going to take it and _ace_ it; flawlessly. We'd have to fix his eyes for that. He was orphaned and had no money, but I said I'd pay for any hospital expenses.

"What?" She asked after she swallowed some noodles. I spooned my broth gently and nodded.

"He said he gets black spots in his vision sometimes. I'm going to see how well he dodges kunai tomorrow. I'll be able to pinpoint all of his blind spots that way, if really has any." I explained.

"Hmmm… I have a shift the day after tomorrow. Bring him by." She looked genuinely concerned. I could practically see all of the possible diagnoses running through her mind.

I nodded. "Train with me tomorrow, if you're not too tired after tonight." I suggested.

"Won't _you_ be tired after training with Udon?" She asked; I was happy I didn't have to tell her that I would be training with him daily. She was able to deduce that on her own. I shook my head in response. I'd pull through for her. Throwing kunai at a kid wasn't going to tire me out anyway. I smirked to myself because that was probably a lie. Udon was a surprising person. Every time I had thought "this is going to be easy" he actually made me think twice.

"We need to work on my chakra control." I explained.

Sakura nodded. "I might as well go through basic combat aid with you as well." She shrugged.

I narrowed my eyes.

"All ANBU operatives—

"—Suck at combat aid. The program is shit and Tsunade-sama is working to fix it. So you're going to be the first that learns the correct way." Sakura interrupted in a no-nonsense tone and I shrugged. She was the doctor; I'd have to believe her. She saved my friend and promised me she'd help teach me how to do the same.

"I didn't even pay attention to that part of the program." Naruto grinned as if that were an accomplishment. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah because it's not like you _almost_ died during the war or anything!" Sakura sarcastically sniffed and waved her hand around for emphasis.

"Jeez! How many times do I have to apologize for that, Sakura-chan!" Naruto had comical tears in his eyes and I smirked smugly at him.

"Don't look like the cat that evaded the hound, either, Sasuke. I heard _all_ about how kabuto had to resuscitate you, as well!" She sniped and I looked at her horrified. When had she found _that_ out!? Naruto snickered over her shoulder and pulled down one of his lower eye lids, sticking out his tongue. I pretended to scratch my face, but I did it with my middle finger, discreetly flipping him off in the process.

"You're both children." Sakura sighed as she sipped on her broth.

"He started it." I defended myself, shrugging.

"You shouldn't have carried yourself so tall to set him off. Thus, you're _both_ stupid." She countered.

"Oh, excuse me, I forgot I was speaking with the kunoichi that had gotten herself impaled by my ancestor _on purpose_." I drawled back. Tch. Talk about "stupid"… Sakura sucked in a steadying breath. She was losing her patience. I found it entertaining.

"You wanna start this again, Sasu_ke_?" She deadpanned, stretching the last syllable of my name, and I could tell she was holding back _a lot _of her aggravation. I practically _felt_ her killing intent trying to snake its way around my throat.

"Oh shit…" Naruto sounded worried.

"You tell me, Sa-ku-ra." I replied smoothly, slowly dancing her name off of my tongue like I usually did to tease her.

"That sounds a lot like you have your tail between your legs to me." Sakura deadpanned back because I hadn't really risen to her challenge, I simply evaded it. I smirked. Clearly, it was now _on_. Sakura vs. Sasuke. Round one.

"No what's between my legs isn't a tail, Sakura. I thought you would know better." Naruto looked appalled and surprised all at once. Sakura's cheeks were pink. She knew _damn well_ what the fuck was between my legs; she had accidentally felt it herself! I _specifically_ said that to fluster her, but she refused to give up. Her jade eyes sharpened and practically pinned me to my seat.

"I'm sure Sai could tell me all about what's there and what's not." She deadpanned back, because apparently Sai was an excellent judge of character and masculinity for being without emotion for so many years. I rolled my eyes.

"Are we really having, like, a _legitimate _dick-battle, right now?" Naruto interjected and Sakura, despite her aggravation with me couldn't hold back her laughter. I smirked at them both because it was funny to me too. Naruto started laughing with her and before I knew it I was chuckling. I guess round one was a tie.

"So you're really going to go spar with Sai after this?" Sakura asked after her laughter had simmered down. Naruto was in the middle of _inhaling_ the remains of his first bowl. Another bowl was put in its place as soon as it was taken off the counter. He gorged on the little fishcakes first as we watched him. They were his favorite part to eat.

"Uh-huh." He replied with a mouthful of noodles, but shuddered once Sakura glared at him, reminding him of his manners. He swallowed heavily and then turned to look at me, pointing at me with his chopsticks. Sakura used her chopsticks to intercept his and pointed them back towards his bowl.

"Manners, damn it." She grumbled. It _was_ rude to point at somebody… with your chopsticks, no less. Heh. Hyuuga Hiashi was going to have one _hell_ of a time at Naruto and Hinata's wedding…

"Gomen." He laughed nervously. "Anyway, teme, you should come join us!"

I didn't want to. I wanted to spend time with Sakura. I looked at her bags on the floor and I shrugged. I didn't want to oppress her, either, though. She probably wanted to get ready by herself. What would I do anyway, read while she did everything? That actually sounded kind of nice, but no. Sparring was just the better option.

"Whatever." I shrugged. I'm fucking dirty anyway. I might as well. I saw a small, gentle smile flash across Sakura's face. It looked partially sad and made me want to place my hand atop hers, if only to comfort the sadness away. Obviously, she wanted to spar with us too and regretted not being able to. But just then, she smirked and I saw determination in her eyes. She didn't need us. She was fine alone. I suppose that was a good thing.

"Cool! Hurry up and finish so we can go!" Naruto pestered me through a mouthful of noodles. Sakura pinched the skin of his arm between her nails.

"Ow!" Naruto choked, coughed and finally managed to safely swallow his noodles.

"_Manners_, Naruto." Sakura coldly reminded.

I rolled my eyes. They were being stupid, but I have to be honest here; _I missed this_; I missed _them_ and their antics. This is what we _all_ needed. _This_ was normal. _This_ was right. I smirked, watching Naruto gorge on his food as Sakura rolled her eyes and twirled her noodles around her chopsticks…

The only thing that could tear Naruto away from his precious ramen was his precious training, of course.

-X-

At around six, Sai, Naruto and I practically dropped dead on what used to be training field twenty-two. Now it was just pile of rubble with the sad remainders of earth and grass scattered about. I think we even took out a few trees surrounding the field. … It got bad. There were ink spots everywhere, too. There was no way in hell we were getting away with this…

"Man, Baa-chan's gonna be pissed when she realizes we broke another training field…" Naruto muttered under his breath, but both Sai and I heard him. He was laying directly to my left and Sai was in a half-sitting position to my right, holding his stomach from the last kick I delivered to his core. Of course, I had no regrets… it serves him right for wearing that _stupid _cropped shirt. He had pissed me off the last few seconds of our spar and I decided to go for where he was the least protected. I don't even remember what he said; it was something stupid about my hair.

"You never answered me, traitor." Sai wheezed next to me; I think he needs medical attention. I slid my eyes over to him. Naruto's fucking last-second punch in an attempt to avenge Sai still had my head spinning. I was sure his fist had thoroughly fucked up my kinesthetic sense. I'd be stumbling home after this.

"What?" I asked back. What was he talking about? Everything felt fuzzy; as if I was experiencing life through a cotton ball.

"Which do you prefer being called: 'duck-ass' or 'chicken-head'?" He repeated.

Oh. That was what his las-second insult was. That's right; he said he would change my nickname because it suited me better. I think I preferred 'traitor' to 'duck-ass', honestly.

"Honestly?" I asked. He looked over at me and nodded, still holding his middle, which was now turning an ugly purple color. I grinned at him, the adrenaline from the battle making me a little high, despite the pain I was in.

"Neither. I like 'traitor' better." I shrugged. "The other ones suck."

First, Naruto started laughing really slowly, and then Sai joined in after a moment, holding his ribs as he wheezed away. I thought his pain was funny so I started laughing too.

"You sound like a bitch." I insulted with a short laugh.

"And you sound like you could be _my_ bitch." Sai responded, his laughter dying.

"I think your wheezing means I made you _my_ bitch." I sniped back.

"And I believe that if I piss on you, by a dog's standards, I will be dominant over you. Why are we having this discussion?" He asked.

"We aren't_ dogs_." I hissed back. "If you piss on me I'll cut your tiny dick off."

"Tenten-chan would disagree—ttebayo." Naruto interjected tiredly. The sky was a really nice orange-pink-red color. I was in so much pain that all I wanted to do was close my eyes and sleep. It was worth coming out here with them. Tenten thought men were dogs? I didn't know her well enough to conclude whether or not Naruto was just joking.

"Leotard must be her bitch then." Sai replied.

Naruto snorted. I actually laughed. _Leotard_. It was a fitting insult for Lee, but last time I checked he stopped wearing that atrocious green thing.

"I don't think Lee could ever be anyone's bitch." Naruto commented on a more serious note. "Have you even really seen him in action? 'Dude kicks _ass_ like he was born to do it-ttebayo!"

Oh. I disagree with you, Naruto...

"He would sell his soul to be Sakura's bitch." I replied. Naruto sucked in air, as if in pain.

"Ouch. That one's harsh, teme."

I shrugged. It was true though, no?

"Remember the chunnin exams? … The first ones?" I asked. Lee had gotten _fucked up_ for Sakura. I remembered that because I was mad that I couldn't protect her and that she had let herself get hurt for Naruto and myself.

"Oh yeah, he blew kisses at her and shit. I was so pissed." Naruto laughed, running his fingers through his hair, embarrassed at how he used to be as a kid.

"How old were you when you took the first chunnin exams?" Sai asked us.

"Twelve." Naruto and I responded in unison. That was _so_ long ago.

"Fuck, we're getting old." Naruto groaned.

"Technically, we've all outlived the average lifespan of a shinobi." Sai commented.

"Eh? They have an average age for that?" Naruto asked. It figures he wouldn't know it. He paid zero attention to statistics in the academy.

"It's seventeen." I responded. By the books, a lot of us should've died on the battlefield in the last war.

"Oh… _Shit_." There was a short pause as we all caught our breath. "…Oi, teme, Sai, let's go get Shikamaru. We should get drinks and hang out at your place again."

I rolled my eyes. I _hated_ having people in my apartment I had to hire proffessiona carpet cleaners last time Naruto and Shikamaru came over. Fucking dobe threw up _all_ over my living room floor.

"I don't want you in my apartment." I commented dryly.

"We should drink at mine." Sai offered. "Ino won't be staying tonight."

I wrinkled my nose. I did _not_ want to imagine what they did in his apartment.

"Sai, you fucking horny teme, if I find _one_ dirty thing—

Sai interrupted Naruto's insult.

"You have nothing to fear. I actually clean, unlike you, dirty-dickless." Sai even said that with a smile. I was impressed.

"FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME I HAVE A DICK!" Naruto screamed; he was getting his energy back, it seems. It wasn't fair that he always recovered so quickly. I still felt like shit.

"But you haven't had sex yet, so which is it? Do you not have a dick to do it with, or is it just so tiny she doesn't want it?" Sai easily retorted. My mouth opened at that one; In fact, my eyes probably almost popped out of their sockets at that one. For an injured man, he had some _balls_ to say that to Naruto. I looked over at said blonde. His face was fucking _bright red_. He sat up like an Edo Tensei on crack and punched Sai right across the face. The man couldn't even dodge because he was still messed up from when I kicked him, as he should be. He fell backwards, sprawled across the grass with a hiss of pain. I wouldn't be surprised if he was unconscious.

"Fucker! She _wants_ it! Of course she fucking wants it!" Naruto defended vehemently, pointing at Sai's dead-looking body lying on the ground next to me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was Sai taunting Naruto because he had realized that the blonde was stuck and didn't know how to progress their relationship? Interesting. I guess I wasn't the only observant one here. Sai had a callous way of approaching the topic, but he was trying to help Naruto regardless. Again, I found that I was growing a healthy respect for the man, regardless of his odd quirks.

"I don't believe you." Sai still pressured, even though he was practically dead on the ground.

"It's not like we can just _do it_, you asshole! Her entire fucking family can see through fucking walls!" Naruto screeched and kicked Sai right beneath his bent leg and right on his ass for good measure. I smirked as my doppelganger clenched his legs, afraid Naruto would be pissed enough to kick his balls.

"So you're too paranoid to have sex with her." I concluded, interrupting their fight and sort of diffusing it at the same time.

"No, traitor, he doesn't have a dick, remember? He just _can't_." Sai smirked and I rolled my eyes. That wasn't helping.

"I HAVE A FUCKING DICK! And if you don't shut the fuck up I'll t-bag you with it you motherfucker!" Naruto lost his shit, again.

"I don't want your nether regions anywhere near my face, thank you. If you would like to do such things with a man I'm sure someone in the village will—

"I'mnotfuckinggayeither!" A few birds flew from the trees at the sheer volume of Naruto's voice. I was sure the entire village could hear that one.

"Why don't you try making sure you're not being watched before you do it?" I asked. It's what I would do in his place.

"Eh? Hell if I know if I'm being watched or not, teme. It doesn't matter _how_ far away they are, they'll see if they want to." Naruto shrugged. "I just don't want to get caught doing it because you know how her family is. It's different. She doesn't have it the way you, me or Sakura-chan have it." Naruto shrugged.

Come to think of it, why wasn't Sakura living with her parents? I resisted the urge to ask. I'd ask her myself if I really wanted to know.

"If she wants it, then just do it. Just don't be _stupid_ about it." I ignored his protests. Denying her could cause a problem… _maybe_.

"Maybe when we're married and we're allowed to..." Naruto murmured.

I looked over at him. Was he fucking serious?

"You're just going to let her family dictate everything the two of you do? Will you let them seal away your children when you have them, too?" I snapped, because that kind of attitude would get him _nowhere_ in a strict clan like the Hyuuga.

"What? No, of course not. Hinata-chan wants to change that sort of thing. If she has children neither of them will get the seal. No way." Naruto assured, but he looked deep in thought.

"Well then you're going to have to fucking help her make that change happen, _dobe_." She couldn't do it all by herself, after all. She would need a strong, male figure in her life to help her make the changes necessary and Naruto was going to actually have to grow some hair on his balls if he wanted to free her from her clan's BS.

"I don't know how." He frowned. "I've been reading a lot of legal crap lately with baa-chan. I've been trying to find loopholes in the Hyuuga rule—

"Just listen to her. She knows what she's doing and if she wants it, just fucking give it to her. It's simpler than you think. I know you don't want to screw up, but give her some fucking credit." After all, Hyuuga Hinata was a _Hyuuga; _she had her family's eyes too. She would know when it is and isn't safe to do it. And at this point Hiashi approved of them dating— thanks to my meddling. Personally, if I were in Hiashi's place, I don't think I'd give a shit what my daughter was doing, knowing that she was going to end up married to the future rokudaime hokage. You don't get any more honor than that. Besides, Hinata had told us both that Hiashi was easy-going compared to the rest of the clan. Neji had changed that about him. I'm sure as long as her clan elders don't find out about what they're doing, it's all clear anyway. Of course, Naruto probably hasn't come to the same conclusion yet, because he's slow. He's probably been struggling with this for months and Hinata's obviously too timid to rip him a new asshole and tell him that she knows what she's doing...

"…Okay. Only because you sound like you know what you're talking about." Naruto replied after a few short moments.

"I know what I'm talking about." I reassured. I came from an asshole clan myself. I knew _exactly _what I was talking about.

"Yes, make sure you listen to traitor when he tells you to leave her like he left the village, too." Sai joked. This time _both_ Naruto and I moved over to kick Sai, who grunted in pain in response. I had managed to jar his fucked up ribs, too— and it was a good thing because he deserved it; the bastard.

"Uuugh... Too soon?" Sai groaned.

"You're an ass." Naruto spat, half-heartedly.

"And you're a panty-waste." Sai responded with a smile in his voice.

"That's disgusting." I scrunched my nose. I was surprised he could come up with so many demeaning things. Did he just sit at home and think about fucked up things to say to people?

"How did you even come up with that one!? " Naruto shrieked. "Who taught you this shit!?"

Sai just chuckled and shrugged. I rolled my eyes and painfully sat up with a groan an old man would've been proud of. The dizziness hit me like a wave and I felt sick to my stomach out of disorientation.

"I need a medic… That last hit was barbaric." I didn't even know how bad the damage was to my body; I just knew I was fucked up. I needed Sakura. Now. Naruto ignored my complaint.

"So… wait, am I taking you_ both_ to the hospital and then we'll meet at Sai's at like what time again?" Naruto asked, trying to confirm our plans instead.

"I'll just go home. I have a doctor at my apartment." I groaned and shakily got to my feet. I had told Naruto what happened at Hofuku and how Sakura ended up staying with me. "Sai's house at ten." I grumbled as my legs slightly shook. Naruto nodded.

"Come on, asshole." Naruto rose to a crouch and lugged Sai off of the floor. The man wheezed and groaned. "Damn, teme you fucked Sai up." Naruto grinned at me. I gave him a tired smirk. To be fair, Sai kind of fucked me up too, but at least I was still standing and capable of taking myself home… to Sakura. It's funny how in my dizzy haze it felt right to come home to _her_, like she belonged there waiting for me to get back.

"Someone has to for all the fucked up shit he says…" I grumbled back and watched as Naruto tiredly, but still effortlessly launched into the trees after giving me a small smirk. Thankfully, this training field was close to my apartment complex, but I was still in pain and would still have to walk all the way there; Fuck. I should have asked to borrow one of Naruto's clones. Dejectedly, I began to hobble, holding on to trees on my way out of the destroyed area. The busted scenery reminded me of the time I had fought Naruto at the Valley of the End. I had walked away in a similar fashion; all fucked up and clinging to trees, walls and rocks to keep me steady. If I hadn't gotten a head start and injured Naruto previously, I'm sure Kakashi would have had the strength and speed to come after me. He'd have found me, fucked me up and brought me back. Back then, if any of us had known what would've happened when I left, I'm sure Kakashi would have ditched Naruto and Sakura and chased after me the rest of the way. He should have. I still wished he did to this day. If I ever get my own team, they will not be pulling that sort of shit with me. I shuddered at the memories. I was such a stupid kid.

Ugh… Everything was _fucking_ spinning. I stopped, placing my hand on the damp bark of a large tree and held back my urge to vomit. I took a few deep, steadying breaths and then continued on my way. It took me an entire _half-hour_ to get home; the last maybe five minutes of which I spent climbing three flights of stairs to get to my stupid floor. Shakily, I unlocked my door. Awesome. I'm finally home. The door was opening. I stepped out of my shoes, but I lost my balance and fell sideways into the kitchen. I felt a bit of chakra and I cracked open one of the eyes I had squinted shut on painful impact with the floor. There stood Sakura, in the _sexiest _black dress I had ever seen on a woman in my entire life. And she was in front of me, kunai drawn, looking around for threats. When she realized that it was just me, and I hadn't been followed, she placed the kunai down next to me carefully and bent down to her knees. I grimaced. She looked really nice; she shouldn't be stooping to her knees on the kitchen floor for me.

"Violent training. Sorry." I commented tiredly. My vision blurred for a second but it cleared, thankfully. I decided to focus on something other than the pounding of my head and my splitting migraine. There was nothing really special about the dress she was wearing. It was simple. It was black and it fit her well, but it was _short_ and sparkly and hung on her every curve. I could _definitely_ tell she wasn't wearing a bra underneath. She shook her head, as if disappointed. It was okay, because I was kind of disappointed in myself. I shouldn't have come home like this. She was obviously worried.

"It's okay I figured that's what happened." Oh. Well, that wasn't the lecture I was expecting. "Just try to relax." She instructed. There was not much else I could do besides stare at her and lay helplessly on the floor anyway so I tried to ease as much tension as I could out of my spent muscles. She passed a warm, glowing green hand across my body and her expression grew more concerned and angry as the seconds ticked by. I slowly closed my eyes, because her chakra was _so_ comforting. It was nothing like being healing by kabuto or some other distracted medic. There was warmth and kindness in her chakra. Think about all of the times you spent cuddled under your blankets on a cold, rainy day. Her chakra was like that warm cup of tea on that rainy day in the comfort of your own bed. I almost fell asleep.

"Don't sleep on me. You have a very bad concussion. Your brain is also beginning to swell. I can't believe you survived the trip home without collapsing." She worried her pretty, full bottom lip as she shook me. I opened my bleary eyes and tried to focus on her. It wasn't hard, her pink hair was a striking color that demanded attention.

"Sorry." I responded. I have never apologized so much in my entire life… Maybe to my mother and brother when I did something bad as a kid, but never after my family died.

"Yeah, '_sorry'_… that's exactly what I'm going to say when I break every bone in your body for allowing this to happen to yourself. Should I find Naruto and Sai and kill them before I got out tonight too?" She drawled in a superior tone. I smirked at her. Her attitude was growing on me. I liked it; it made her sexy. I liked her confidence and her sense of humor.

"Leave 'm alone." I half-slurred. Kami-sama I was fucking sleepy. Her chakra washed over me again just then and I felt _miles_ better. My head was clearer and everything stopped tilting around. Slowly, section by section she healed me until I was relatively okay. She left the few bruises and sore spots I had, which was fine with me because I wanted her to conserve her chakra anyway. I prayed that she wouldn't need it tonight, but just in case, it was better to send her out with enough to defend herself with. I sat up and took a deep breath once I felt normal again. She was crouched on the balls of her feet and she smelled _amazing_. I found that my heart started pounding and I couldn't control the stiffness between my legs. I was grateful for my baggy shirt. It helped hide my boner. She flicked my forehead with her finger and I made no move to dodge it. My skin ached a little at the small attack, as did my heart. My brother used to poke my forehead and I missed someone doing that. I gave her a small smile.

"Don't let that happen again." She warned as she got up to go back to the bathroom, leaving me on my ass on the kitchen floor. I stretched my back and caught scent of myself….

_Gross_. I wanted to shower... _immediately._ I frowned and stood up, walking over to the bathroom to lean on the doorframe. She was decorating her eyes in front of the mirror; fully ignoring me. She had just a small amount of makeup on the counter next to a tiny corked vial with about half an ounce of something powdery and white in it. I stared strangely at the little glass bottle as she continued to apply her makeup, abandoning my earlier thoughts of showering as I realized just how enticing her body was, slightly bent over the sink like that. Again, a wave of animalistic need hit me as I was assaulted with the idea of having sex with her, bent over the sink like that. I could practically _feel_ her tiny waist beneath my hands. I bit my bottom lip.

Stop.

"What's in that?" I asked as I pointed to the bottle, hoping to distract myself from those kinds of thoughts. Why the _fuck_ was I so turned on? She looked from me to the bottle and smirked. Her lips were beautiful. I wanted to kiss them.

"My secret weapon." She revealed and continued applying makeup. I cocked an eyebrow and she took that as a response and took a breath to continue explaining. I noticed a small, black blazer was slung over my sink and a shoebox was leaning against my bathtub. She had a small, silver necklace, her earrings from when she went out with me the other night and her hair accessory sitting on top of the blazer. I only noticed these little details _now_ because I was so distracted by _her_ that I didn't really care to notice anything else, to be honest. She was beautiful and I couldn't stop looking at her. I suddenly didn't want her going _anywhere_… not dressed like _that _at least. Yamanaka didn't even deserve to see her like that. "Imagine wanting to use your dick but not being able to… that's what that powder does; it gives its victim temporary erectile dysfunction." She smirked and her voice pierced my thoughts like an arrow. My eyes widened as I looked at the little bottle of cruelty surrounded by her makeup. I wanted that shit _off_ of my fucking bathroom sink _now._

"Get it off the sink. I use this bathroom, you know." I deadpanned and crossed my arms, uncaring of the doorframe digging into my back. Sakura giggled.

"Don't worry I cleaned up thoroughly after I prepared it. I'm wearing female pheromones to turn him on, too. When I slip this into his drink, he won't be able to use his favorite toy for about forty-eight hours. He'll feel ready to go, he just won't be able to go, you know?"

Oh. So _that's_ what had given me an insta-boner. She had mixed female pheromones in to whatever perfume she was wearing; subtle, but damn effective. I shook my head, absolutely speechless. Her plan was the most evil thing I could imagine doing to a guy that liked his sex.

"You're cruel." I spoke quietly, not only because her revenge was the worst thing that could be wished upon a healthy man, but because now _I _was really turned on and had no outlet until she left. She smiled at me, genuinely.

"I'm a lot of things, Sasuke." Was her simple, but quiet response. She didn't really have an expression when she responded. If she did, I couldn't tell what it was because she was applying something to her eyelashes with a fuzzy-looking stick and she was still partially bent over my sink, close up to the mirror. Naturally, her words should have alarmed me, but they only made me want her more. I wanted her closer. I wanted to hold her and ask her what she meant and tell her everything that _I_ found her to be this last week. She was intelligent, witty, fun, strong, capable…

…

And her ass looked _really _good in that dress. Clearly, the point of the dress was to accentuate her legs, hips, waist, and backside. She wasn't bothering with teasing with her breasts. I wondered if it was because she thought they weren't a decent enough "weapon" to use against Yamanaka's dick. I looked at the blazer, instead of her, because I didn't want to make myself nervous by staring at her. My palms were starting to sweat and I wanted to think about something else, like why she was going to wear the blazer to begin with, was it supposed to rain or something?

"Is it going to rain tonight?" I blurted. Those fucking female pheromones were lethal. If she came onto me instead I would do absolutely nothing to stop it from happening. But we all know there's no way she'll do that. She doesn't care to, anymore. Fuck.

"It's supposed to storm." She frowned and I remembered the nightmare she had last night. I still remembered her shaking and fighting _so _hard to get up and run even though she was somewhere in between awake and asleep. I clenched my fists, glad she couldn't see the action. Was that some sort of sign? Should she not go? Would something bad happen if she went? Nightmares didn't usually correlate with weather so precisely. It gave me enough of a reason to try to talk her into staying home.

"Maybe you shouldn't go." Call me superstitious; fuck it. I _really _didn't want her going. Why should she go, really; let's think about this: so Yamanaka can touch her and realize he can't fuck her at the end of the night? Yes, it was evil and served the fucker just right, but… _I_ wanted her here. I wanted to fall asleep next to her… I wanted to hold her and talk to her and eat with her and maybe even watch a movie or something. I would cancel my plans with Naruto, Sai and Shikamaru if she chose to stay instead. I wouldn't hesitate.

"There's no 'not going,' Sasuke, nightmares or not." She replied with a shrug. I watched as she gently dipped her fingertip into a little container of shimmery grey powder and dusted her eyelids with it. I realized she had lined her eyes in black as well. The green of her irises was _so _vibrant. Her eyes looked like emeralds surrounded by smoke. I watched her put all of the products away into a small bag and tossed it into another larger, empty bag next to the sink on the floor, leaving the little bottle of "erectile dysfunction powder" behind on the sink. She started fidgeting with her hair, not really knowing what to do with it. She frowned at herself in the mirror and I moved the stand behind her, against the tiled, white wall.

"I don't know how to do hair." She glowered at herself and half to me, as if maybe _I_ knew how. Tch. If I did, I would have done something about the back of my head _long_ ago.

"Leave it alone. It looks good the way it is." I replied. I personally liked her hair loose. Sometimes, when I woke up at night and she was asleep, I'd run my fingers through it. She always smiled in her sleep when I did that.

"It's too much to have it down. It will screw the outfit up." She spoke to me through the mirror. I looked at her hair. She looked at me through the mirror, and then I actually looked at _us_ in the mirror. We stood so still, I felt like I was looking at a photograph. We actually looked _good _together. Her pink and green color scheme meshed very well with mine. I was bland and dark and she was bright and intricate. Why aren't we kissing, touching, hugging— _something!?_

Suddenly, out of a need for something to do to distract myself, I pushed her hair aside and I noted how my fingers brushing against her neck caused goose-bumps to jump up on her skin— I suppose every shinobi was afraid of having someone else's fingers touch their neck. Anyway, I picked up her thin silver necklace off of the blazer atop the sink and made sure the tiny little red jewel that hung from it was facing the correct way before I clasped it around her neck. The clasp was so delicate I almost struggled shutting it, but I managed. I also managed to freak myself out, wondering just what the _fuck_ I was doing so close to her when I was having intimate thoughts about her.

"Thank you." Again, she spoke quietly. Was she nervous? Afraid? Second-guessing herself? I wanted to know what was wrong. She picked up her brush and started to brush her hair. I force myself to lean back against the wall, crossing my arms, trying to figure out what had happened to her to give her nightmares and a drinking problem. I noticed how much her face had changed from the way it looked when she was twelve. Her eyes were as large as ever, but they were sharper. The bones of her face were more elegant and refined. She was lean, when back then she had been frail and thin. There was tight muscle beneath her skin, whereas before she was just skin and bones because she was too stupid to realize that she needed to eat more than she was allowing herself. Her arms were beautifully toned and her shoulders were rounded and feminine.

What would she do if I stepped forward, bent down and kissed one of them? I felt my face get hot. Maybe… it was too soon for that? I didn't even know if she liked me or had any feelings for me. It wasn't the right moment to cross that line yet… I had to think straight. Stop being an idiot, Sasuke!

"Sakura." I don't know why I said her name. It just rolled off my tongue. Her eyes were alert and she stopped her brush halfway down the shaft of her hair as she looked at me through the mirror. I was eternally grateful for that mirror, because if she had been looking directly up at me there would be nothing stopping me from kissing her. Nothing. I couldn't kiss a reflection, thankfully, so the mirror was my new best friend. "Just don't drink." The 'please' was left unspoken, but it was there, in my tone. She picked up on it and smirked at me through the mirror.

"No promises." She shrugged. "I need something to deal with the trauma of pretending to like a liar anyway." She replied and continued brushing. I frowned at her, but she didn't notice. She was focusing on her hair. I didn't want her to get caught up after having a few. I didn't want her to be slow in case she needed to access her chakra. I didn't… I didn't want her to change her mind and _actually _sleep with him.

"Then be careful." I compromised. Yes. For the first time in my _entire _life… I compromised. It was easier than I thought. I was used to just always getting what I wanted. I always got my way. I even had ways to always get my way. One way or another, I made sure that what I wanted was attainable and would be attained one day. But tonight, I didn't want to fight with her to get her to not drink. I wanted her to remember that we were on good terms. I wanted her to remember that this place was where she would always be safe. I wanted her to _want_ to come back, rather than spend the night with that womanizing asshole. I wanted her to remember all of this before he got the chance to change her mind. Maybe _that's _why my mind kept wandering to kissing her: because it would be hard for her to forget _me _if I kissed her. I was being selfish, of course. I was pretty sure she'd deck me if I kissed her, so I decided to just trust her. She smiled and nodded and surprisingly, it _did_ make me feel better. I placed a hand on her shoulder and stepped out of the bathroom so she could concentrate on fixing herself up. I was distracting her, obviously, because it had been like what, already, twenty minutes? And she was no closer to being ready than when I stepped into the bathroom in the first place.

I busied myself by grabbing clothes from my room. I placed them on the couch. I turned on the TV and I sat there, watching, but not really watching, wondering if the thought of her was going to distract me tonight when I hung out with Naruto, Sai and Shikamaru. I would be a liar if I told you I wasn't worried about her. I actually was. She was _beautiful_ and she was going out with someone who only wanted to fuck her, count her as just another notch on his bedpost and then be on his way. If she drank, she might not be safe… I ran my fingers through my bangs as she finally stepped out of the bathroom. Her bangs were pushed over to one side, and her hair was in some messy-looking bun atop her head, the red and white pin holding it in place on the side. She wore the blazer and was carrying the shoebox that was previously against the bathtub. Her earrings dangled gently against her long neck. I stopped breathing. I forced my eyes to look at the clock.

Look at anything, just don't look at her and lose control of yourself. Don't make unnecessary consequences for the both of you. It's not the right time yet. Not yet.

It was already 9:15. She sat on the couch, next to me and took the top off of the shoebox that she placed on the floor. She pulled out the _longest_,heeled black boots I'd ever seen and slid them onto her legs. They reached about three inches above her knee and left a tantalizing amount of the skin of her thighs exposed before her dress covered the rest. She looked like one of those famous actresses, except better because she was actually healthy and strong. Eventually she sighed and stood.

"Yosh." She smirked at me; I was still sitting on the couch. I was rooted to my spot, not trusting myself to do anything yet. "Time to go kick some ass." She slammed her fist into her palm and I had to smile. It was reassuring that she had no plans to actually sleep with the son of a bitch. I stood up and walked her to the door.

"I'll see you later." She smiled as she stepped across the threshold.

"Aa." She _most definitely_ would. "Be careful." I reminded and she nodded, waved and I watched her walk down the hallway. I sighed, shut my door, and trudged over to the bathroom.

I hated drinking, but maybe a drink or two and some friends was what I was going to need tonight…

-X-

AWWWWWW! My god I love writing Sasuke! This chapter was 31 pages! HOLY CROW! I really wanted to paint Sasuke's relationships with other people in this chapter, as well as his growing feelings for Sakura. Please review! Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

See ya later, Space Cowboy!


	19. Retribution: A Punishment Fully Deserved

KISEKI

|19|

T_T I LOVE YOU ALL. You guys _loved_ Sasuke's chapter! _I _loved Sasuke's chapter! I think I'm falling in love with who Sasuke has become lol; that's a sign that this is getting unhealthy, I think. I'm dying to write Sasuke every time I sit down to write Sakura XD. Bah, who cares! It's fun! Anyway you guys wrote suc_h wonderful_ reviews! I'm so extremely happy that you guys liked the boys hanging out (I promise there will be plenty more of that to come) and Sai's personality. I desperately wanted to give Sai a voice in this fic because he's important! He's _not_ just a side character! I also wanted to paint him and Sasuke kind of respecting each other; not necessarily getting along "spectacularly", but respecting each other mutually. I mentioned that the previous chapter was important in regards to Sasuke and the bonds he made, or rather, re-made with the people he left behind when he defected. I feel like everyone understood that and thus enjoyed the chapter even more. Thank you thank you and eternally thank you! I'm grateful to everyone for your overwhelmingly positive responses. I'm so happy, I could seriously cry. I'm going to write a book someday and it's good to know that I can stay true to the different personalities of different characters. I'm so afraid that I blur everyone's personalities into one sometimes. It's reassuring to know that you guys believe I've captured the characters correctly T_T THANK YOU!

LOL I got a lot of PM's and one review asking me how I come up with the witty, wise-ass comebacks and remarks between the characters. Hah! I really don't know. They naturally just come to me. I think hanging out with my bro's gives me _a lot_ of material and a very good idea as to what happens between guys when women aren't within earshot lol.

Now… let's get back to the action! I have a feeling this Sakura POV might not be so bad.

-X-

The street was quiet, but that didn't surprise me. It was late. The temperature in Konoha had dropped to a chilly fifty degrees since the sun went down, foreshadowing the upcoming thunder storm. I touched the pocket on the inside of my blazer as my heels clicked one after the other on the ground like a constant metronome. The vial of powder and Sasuke's spare key were both thankfully still there, as they should be. I honestly couldn't help but double-check; I was really nervous. The last thing I wanted was to lose Sasuke's key too… Kami-sama that would be embarrassing. I heaved a heavy sigh; Tonight probably won't be fun. I was treating this entire outing like a mission and it was making me tense. I'd be a liar if I denied that I'd rather be helping Sasuke with his chakra control right now…

I blushed.

…_Or_ wrestling him… even though that tends to give me unwelcomed thoughts, it's still more enjoyable than going to a crowded club with a man who lied to my face like it was no big deal. I sighed again, my heart thudding away at the memory of last night. Why did he just stand there; holding me against his wall? Was he _trying_ to give me perverted thoughts? Because that was an _extremely _perverted position to just hang out in… with each other.

I shook my head and refocused my attention on the empty road, listening to the muted and nearly inaudible chatter and laughter coming from the houses on either side of the street. I was growing frustrated with every step I took towards that gate.

Tch! I don't wan~_naaaa_…. I whined to myself. I was _cold_; it was going to rain and I forgot to buy a fucking umbrella! Back in the bathroom, Sasuke had actually _almost_ convinced me to stay. I really didn't want to go, but what was I going to do? Send a clone to tell Suchiru that…what? I was sick? Hah! Like that would ever work. I'm a _doctor_; I don't get sick days. There were no excuses. What was I going to tell him, that I had a nightmare about a storm and I was too scared to go out in an actual storm because of it? What kind of anbu am I, then, if that's the case? Fuck _that_; like I would _ever_ give that asshole a rumor to spread about me… I huffed to myself. It's tonight or never. I'm going through with it. There's no going back, whether I want to or not.

Click.. click… click… click.. click ..click … click!

I kept walking, my heels echoing off of the houses in the empty street. Bugs buzzed around the whirring street lamps as I pressed on. I still wanted to be _warm_ back at Sasuke's apartment. I didn't exactly have a foreboding feeling; no. I just _really _didn't feel like doing this elaborate stunt; I actually felt _sexy_ in what I was wearing and, being reminded of how desirable I can be if I wanted to, I just didn't feel like giving Suchiru even the _idea_ that he could get a piece of me…

"_Be careful." _Sasuke's voice echoed in my mind. His tone was as solid as usual.

Tch. When had he started giving a shit? Oh right. When we became actual friends. I blushed again as I remembered his hand on my shoulder in the bathroom earlier tonight. Sasuke was _so_ warm. And it was so _not_ warm out here. UUUGH! Sasuke, Sasuke, _Sasuke_! Get the _hell _out of my head, Sasuke! I can't stop thinking about him! I shouldn't be surprised because I'm living with him for now, but this last week has been _filled_ with everything about him! How am I _not_ going insane at this point!? Maybe… maybe I actually _am_ and I don't realize it!

…**.So… … we miss him…? **Inner chanced.

Shut it, Inner. …Although, it _would_ be nice to have a teammate watching my back tonight. I wasn't worried because I had handled missions similar to this situation before; I just hated the fact that it was going to take _a lot _of nurturing and focus to accomplish. I rolled my eyes, but schooled my features into a smile as I came upon the gate. Suchiru stood there, leaning against the little guard booth, talking with the evening gate patrol. I focused on his voice. It was so deep and alluring. It was _so_ familiar… Why do I _know_ I've heard it somewhere before?

I stopped _dead_ in my tracks as a familiar face _assaulted _my mind.

Uchiha Itachi!

Suchiru's voice was _eerily _similar to his! Granted, I had only met the man _once_ in my entire life, okay maybe _twice _if you count the genjutsu world Naruto and I were trapped in that one time, but still I've only ever heard his speak on two occasions but that was _undoubtedly _his voice coming out of Suchiru's mouth.

Uchiha Itachi.

I frowned. Such an asshole doesn't deserve to have a hero's voice. Itachi-san… I'm going to get him for you too. Shannaro! I plastered a pretty smile on my face, my motivation renewed, just as Suchiru turned around and grinned at me. Okay. So, he _was_ sexy. No joke; he was a really good-looking man. He was dressed in dark black jeans, closed-toed boots, a white t-shirt and a really sharp navy blue jacket with a hood. He looked mischievous and had even mussed his hair a bit to give him a bad-boy kind of appearance. I was impressed because he had a body and a face that a woman would drool over and his clothes only accentuated that fact, but, despite all of that, I hadn't forgotten his shitty personality. He waved as I came up to him. I shot the chunin guards a grin and a wave. Tch. They _always_ stationed chunin at the gates. It was the only reason they couldn't fucking stop Sasuke from leaving the village all those years ago. When Naruto becomes hokage I'll grill him about stationing higher-skilled guards for the gate.

"Ja-ne, guys, see you later." He called over his shoulder as he placed a gentle hand to the small of my back and steered me towards the gate. You _won't_ be seeing them later, Suchiru. I promise you. You'll be too embarrassed to even come home, shannaro!

"You look beautiful, Sakura." He complemented. And I blushed, because Uchiha Itachi's face came to mind and it was _really_ hard not to imagine _him_ saying that to me when Suchiru sounded _exactly_ like him. No, I should _not_ be blushing about a dead hero related to my not-douchey-anymore teammate, but it worked in my favor anyway because now, playing the part of being attracted to Suchiru would be _so_ much easier. I just didn't have to look at him and see his blonde hair that was _so_ opposite of Uchiha Itachi's. That was it.

Piece of cake! It's not like I'm destroying my sanity or anything, right?

"Thank you." I smiled at the ground and leaned in closer to him. Tch. Wrong. I'm definitely losing my mind. Now, I'm _positive_ I have a thing for Uchiha men. Thank Kami-sama there's only one in the world left. I think the dark hair and eyes get to me. I was going to need something to drink tonight to cope with my insanity; something strong, hopefully. I was also going to have to see who's bartending tonight. Maybe Aki-kun will help me out if he's there.

Suchiru's hand traveled up and rested on my shoulder… the same one Sasuke touched in his bathroom. I shut out every sensory capability telling me that this man was _not_ Sasuke and just focused on the memory: It just made it easier to fake being flustered. I needed him to believe I was attracted to him, even though his lying personality was enough to turn me completely off. I needed to blend truths into my lies as effectively as possible for everything to go down the way I need it to tonight.

"How was your day?" I asked to make conversation, keeping my eyes trained on the road ahead. I focused on frantic-looking lightning bugs that seemed to sense the storm coming. Their glowing little bottoms flickered in and out as they tried to find their mate. It was sad that the rain would ruin their chances tonight…

Ugh, to be completely honest, I didn't really give a _shit_ about Suchiru's day or how it went. What did he do, fuck three girls successively before he came here and _maybe_ picked up a mission scroll from the tower? Tch. I could care less. What I _really _was curious about was how Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke's spar went. I bet you any amount of money they _destroyed _ an entire training field and Tsunade-sama was going to have to get douton users to fix it. Hah! I could practically _see_ the ink stains and charred gra—

"It was good, but boring. I did some training and meditation." I felt him shrug.

"Ah, so you meditate like a lot of other Yamanaka shinobi." I smiled, feigning interest and refused to look at him. I decided to block his chakra out and just focus on his voice.

Itachi-san, Itachi-san, Itachi-san, _Itachi-san_….

His name and his face were my mantra and my mental armor. I'd actually rather think about him anyway.

"Yes, a lot of my ninjutsu is based on the opponent's brain so meditation and a sound mind are key to successful missions, of course." He responded.

Okay, _now_ I was mildly interested. I didn't really like him, but Suchiru was a shinobi, it was still interesting to see what kind of techniques he used.

"How is that?" I asked, because I wanted to know how his technique worked, or what its principle was, at the very least.

"Eh, you're quite different from most Kunoichi, Saku~ra." He smiled and I hated the way he said my name. Blech. Sasuke's way of saying it was _sexier_ and _waay_ more teasing and alluring than his. Kam-sama, I have to stop thinking about Sasuke! Why am I thinking about Sasuke, fuck! I must have blushed because Suchiru chuckled. Whatever, it made this entire scheme all the more believable. I'd utilize anything and anyone to make myself as believable as possible tonight, inner embarrassment and shame be damned! I looked around as we continued walking down the dirt road towards the town of festivals. We were walking at a relatively quick pace. I was fine with it. I could keep up in heeled boots for some reason and I wanted to get to Hofuku and get Suchiru doped up as quickly as possible.

"I'm interested in different techniques. I think about them from a medical perspective, of course." I bashfully responded, faking trying to defend myself in a cute way.

"Kawaii." He replied sensually. Bingo. Hook, line and sinker. You're going _down_. He continued speaking. "Anyway, in battle I generally project a part of my chakra onto my opponent; almost like tagging them with a sticker, only I do it from long distances. As soon as the tiniest bit of chakra touches the opponent, I begin to manipulate their brain's chemicals from that point on. Usually, I let out a lot of killing intent and increase the chemicals that cause fear and panic. Sometimes they freeze up and other times they just get sloppy in battle. It's not anything flashy, like the famed rasengan or chidori, of course, but it gets the job done discreetly. More often than not; the opponent doesn't know what's going on. Most of my skill comes from perfecting the basics. I prefer weapons and taijutsu to chakra and ninjutsu. I only use my mind jutsu to aid my physical attacks to bring an enemy down." He spoke in a very hushed tone, pulling me closer so there was no chance of anyone but me overhearing. Granted, this road was empty, like it was the last time Sasuke and I walked it, so I doubt anyone would overhear, but still, it was better to be safe than sorry when talking about your personal techniques. The fact that Suchiru was open enough to talk about his secrets with me to begin-with was a great show of trust.

… He won't ever know what hit him if he honestly thinks I'm into him.

"That's pretty cool, though I can tell that your technique has its roots in medical ninjutsu. You must be good with your chakra to be able to control how much serotonin or adrenaline or whatever someone gets hit with…" I murmured up at him breaking the soothing spell his voice was casting on me. Oh well; there goes that lifeline. He winked at me, closing a single, green eye. His blonde hair blew around in the wind. Yep… Yamanaka Suchiru was _no_ Uchiha Itachi. I liked dark hair better… _way_ better. Sasuke's eyes from last night assaulted my mind. It was inner's doing. I quickly blushed and looked away. Good. Thanks inner! I could feel her winking at me and I blushed again.

"You're a hundred percent right. I developed the jutsu during the war. I was one of the nin guarding the medical camp. I was there when you knocked that fake into oblivion." He smiled down at me. I was still blushing, but then I frowned because that zetsu had disguised himself as _Neji_… as if he were foreshadowing the Hyuuga's death... I couldn't help but think I should have known. _I _should have died in Neji's place. _Hinata_ could have kept Naruto alive when he was dying. She was a decently skilled medic. _Any _decent medic could have kept his heart pumping like I did. I was useless.

"It had disguised itself as an important friend." I murmured.

Suchiru nodded.

"We were all impressed with what you did. Anyway, after being around medics for so long and witnessing their techniques first-hand, I began to experiment a little. The first time I tried the technique was against a Zetsu clone when they moved me back into the battlefield. It was going to kill a cousin of mine so I acted quickly. I made the clone's hypothalamus go into overdrive and for a split second he was paralyzed with fear. It was enough time for my cousin to drive a kunai into his skull through his creepy eye."

"Wow, how many times can you use the technique? Is it draining like the shintenshin?" I asked.

"No, because I'm not projecting anything important out of the safety of my own body. I don't need extra chakra to protect my mind because it's not leaving my body, it's just connecting with someone else's mind and brain via a link through my chakra and wreaking havoc from the inside out. I can use it as much as I want in a day."

"Eh, that's pretty cool. Effective, too." I grinned. And I _had_ to get him in the mood, so I hit on him. "I wonder what _else_ you can do with something like that." I winked and he smirked.

"Hmmm you're too smart for your own good, Sakura…Careful, or I'll have you experience it first-hand…" He deadpanned back in quite an effectively seductive way. His hand slid to my midsection and squeezed. I eeped as cutely as I could and jumped, pretending to be at ease enough to be ticklish. I smacked his arm and he chuckled.

"Come on now! Tickling isn't fair!" I chastised but giggled to make it seem like I was having fun anyway. It was getting suspiciously easier to lie to him. I was becoming a better liar every time I had to do this…

"Ah, but you're cute when you're surprised." He smiled and I smiled back pretending it was _anyone_ but him. The lines were blurring however, because he had a playful personality and I happened to like guys like that. It was getting hard to hate him when he was being decent, honestly.

**BUT ALL HE WANTS IS TO FUN-AND-RUN US! Get your head out of your ass, shannar**_**o**_**! **

Right, right. I needed that reminder, thanks. Watch my back tonight, Inner, if you can.

"It's going to rain hard later tonight." Suchiru commented in an absent way. As I slid my eyes over to him I saw him looking up at the heavy clouds building in the sky. I could not see any stars out.

"Yeah it's not as warm as it usually is. There's definitely a storm coming." I agreed.

And as if to mock me, the wind blew steadily again, chilling my skin. Suchiru tightened his arm around my shoulders and even though I didn't exactly like the fact that he tricked me, I was grateful for his warmth at the moment.

"You can have my jacket, if you're really that cold." He suggested with a playful smirk and I laughed.

"Come on now, they don't call me a _shinobi_ for nothing. Granted, the temperature _is_ uncomfortable, but it's _nothing_ compared to Kumo, or the land of Iron. _Kami-sama_ Iron is an icy wasteland." I frowned at the memory.

"Ah, that's right, you've been pretty much all over. Tell me, if you had to leave Konoha, which country would be the most bearable to live in?" He asked, curiosity in his tone.

Ugh. I didn't want to get to know him; there was just no point. I wasn't going to be seeing him much ever again after tonight… I would have to bear with the pointlessness of it all…

"Hmmm… honestly speaking, I'd probably go to Sound. It's abandoned but it's woodsy, like it is here. It's a little cooler, but it has regular seasons. Wind is too hot and Rain is too, well, rainy." I chuckled. Suchiru laughed as well. Come to think of it; I wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke revealed that he wasn't homesick after defecting and staying in Sound for a while. Sound was a lot like Konoha, which is not surprising because it borders the land of fire. A lot of the same flora and fauna could be found there as in the fire country.

"I'd probably pick Kumo. I sort of like the mountains, despite the chill." He shrugged. Tch. We don't have much in common, then, asshole.

"You'd probably like the music in Kumo." I "cutely" mused in an effort to keep the conversation alive.

He chuckled but scrunched his nose.

"Actually, I don't like rap or the new stuff. Granted, it's _good_, but it's just not my thing. I really like classical music, with singing and maybe samisens and flutes and stuff."

"Eh? Really!?" My eyes were wide. B_oooooooooooooooooooooooooooriiiiing!_ Briefly I wondered what Sasuke liked listening to…

_Stop fucking thinking about Sasuke, Sakura! _

He laughed more at himself.

"Yeah, everyone gives me that reaction. My cousins tell me I should have been born a Hyuuga." He supplied in an embarrassed tone.

Pffft! As if he could _ever_ look or be as elegant as Neji or Hinata, Hiashi and Hanabi. Suck a _dick_ Suchiru. The Hyuuga are genuinely kind and honorable people. There's not a _shred_ of honor in you, you fucking _liar_. You blew your impression on me the moment I realized you'd played me.

I need to stop hating on everything he says. Focus, Sakura. You're supposed to pretend to be _attracted_ to him!

"I can agree with that, you seem to be traditional." I lied with an artistic tilt of my head and a soft smile.

"Ah, but I could never be as graceful as you are. You work miracles with your iryo-ninjutsu and I _have_ seen you spar with Karin-san in passing." He complemented and this time freaked me out. I had sparred with Karin like… I don't even remember… six months ago? That was a _long_ time ago. He remembered!? Don't freak out! Don't freak out! Artfully, I blushed.

"Thank you, Suchiru; I don't get complemented often…" Let's make this interesting. I need to make him feel manly. What better way than to feign distress? Oh no, poor Sakura; she gets no complements. Now start being a "big, strong man" and make me feel better, asshole. It's your move.

"Your teammates don't complement you?" He asked. Tch. Good comeback. He wouldn't play into my verbal traps so easily.

"Oh, Naruto does, you know how he is." I replied vaguely and smiled. Let's see what he has to say about the others… Secretly I prayed he'd insult someone; _anyone_ I cared about so I could just slap him nice and hard, go home and call it a night. I somehow had a feeling that it would _never _be that easy…

"You have four teammates, right?" He queried, genuinely, as if to prove me right.

"Um, yeah. Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, and Kakashi-sensei." I smiled, this time genuinely, because even though I was a bit distant from them as of now, they were still my boys and I cherished them.

"The others don't encourage you?" He asked in a sad tone and his green eyes slid to mine. I blushed because he really _was_ attractive. That disheartened look looked really good on him. Suddenly, out of the _fucking_ blue I got a little turned on, and even _I _knew that was uncharacteristic of me. Then, it hit me, he was using his _fucking _mind jutsu on me, thinking I couldn't sense that teeny, tiny, miniscule change in my system! The _bastard_! Did he _not_ realize that my chakra control was _perfect_? Granted, the fluctuation he caused in my brain was practically unnoticeable; he truly _was _a genius in his own right, but my chakra control was flawless and I _noticed_. He certainly had _balls_ to be doing that to _me_, and I could certainly call him out on it, but now I was _pissed_ and I _wanted _him to suffer, so I let him think he had gotten away with it. _Son of a bitch_. I let my cheeks flame as I felt myself get slightly wet. Ugh the rest of this walk was going to be uncomfortable; the ache and need was growing, slowly, but surely…

"N-No they do…" I replied and quickly looked away, just because I know he would notice the change in demeanor. He was using his training. He was reading my body language carefully. I wanted him to think to was off guard and embarrassed. I wanted him to know that he was affecting me. I needed him comfortable and in control if I was going to usurp him later on.

Oh… you mother _fucker_… it's _so_ on! Just you wait, Suchiru… I'm going to _blast _you right off of your high horse…

"Ah, good then. I thought maybe I'd have to go fix them if they didn't; you're really amazing." He chuckled.

Tch! Hah! That was a _joke_! Riiiiiight like he could _ever_ give Naruto a stern talking-to on my behalf without getting his ass kicked in response! Hell, Sasuke and Sai would _destroy _him! He'd have Kurama-san, Naruto, _Sharingan-no-Kakashi_, a former anbu ROOT who has _obliterated_ entire _squads _of enemy shinobi _on his own_ and, most importantly the _last_ Uchiha with the _most powerful doujutsu in existence_ all on his sorry ass. Suchiru would _die._ Poof! Just like that. My boys would _obliterate_ him for thinking he was high and mighty enough to tell them what's what. Tch! I resisted the urge to snort. Wow. Someone had an ego, but maybe he was trying to reach out to my feminine side and make me feel like he'd fight for me; like he'd protect me. It was a damn good tactic, but I sure as hell wasn't falling for it; turned on or not, he'd _never_ brain wash me. I want this over-with already.

"Thank you." I murmured, trying to put as much soft appreciation into my tone without sounding like I was mocking him. Instead, I pretended I was thanking Neji, Itachi-san and Jiraiya-sama for their sacrifice. Tonight officially sucks. I need booze, like now.

Thankfully, the rest of the walk was silent and I was left to my thoughts as Suchiru kept a steady hand on my waist. We passed the street lamp that Sasuke and I wrestled under when we were drunk. I smiled at the memory. It was the first relatively sweet thing Sasuke did for me; not the wrestling part, the part after. He had carried me home because my shoes were killing me even though he was really drunk. I'm actually surprised we made it up three flights of steps without falling. I smiled at the dampening dirt beneath my feet at the fond memory.

We _finally _reached the festival town and naturally, there was an Umbrella festival going on. This town partied every night, no joke! I kind of _wished_ it was quiet so that I could just go home, claiming there was no real party to attend. In that situation I could literally call it a rainy day and reschedule then never show up for the rescheduled date. Ugh, what glorious wishful thinking. If only, if only…

We passed the bench that Sasuke and I shared that night. Tonight, there was another couple sitting on it; their umbrellas ready for the coming storm. The man had wild orange hair and handsome rust-colored eyes. The woman was a beauty herself. She was busty, but thin where it counted and had curly, thick, dark hair and cerulean eyes. They both wore blue-shaded kimonos in honor of the rain. They seemed to be entranced in each other and I smiled at their happiness. They looked like they genuinely appreciated each other. His arm was around her in a protective way and she was chuckling at something he said, her head resting on his shoulder. He threaded his fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head. I read his lips. "I love you", he murmured to her.

I felt hollow and sore and just empty at the sight of it, but at the same time, equally happy for the couple. I wanted something like that, of course, what woman didn't? But at this point… after everything… maybe it's just safer for any guy I set my eyes on to _not_ be with me. I'm a walking disaster. My head is a mess; I don't even feel the same as I used to be. I didn't want to think about that. I couldn't fix who I had become. I became a broken person and there was just no going back so there was no use in even thinking about it. I leaned in closer to Suchiru for shallow comfort. He tightened his arm around me and I took in his scent. Whatever he was wearing, it was light and natural, but masculine nonetheless. It was nondescript so I didn't really _feel_ anything when I caught scent of it. Oh well. We eventually passed the bouncer, got our hands stamped and entered the booming club and I made a bee-line for the bar, clicking in tune with the low bass of the song. I dragged Suchiru behind me by his hand. We sat down and _thank Kami-sama_ Aki was bartending tonight! I spotted him across the bar and thankfully, he spotted me, giving me his signature grin. I instantly smiled. He waved and I waved back.

"Saki!" He shouted over the hustle and bustle.

The bar was the same glowing blue color. It was dark and dim where the people danced, just like last time. The same colored lights whizzed about and the same, hard electric genre of music was pounding in the background, the crowd pulsating like an ocean to it. This time, however, there were three times more people. I smirked, because I was going to twist that fact to my advantage. Now was my chance; I wriggled my hand out of Suchiru's as he stared curiously at Akio.

"Akio-kun!" I shouted and ditched Suchiru blonde was alarmed as I ducked through a _massive _crowd blocking the other side of the bar where Akio was standing. Discreetly, I pulled the little vial of doom out of my pocket, double checking to make sure I didn't drop Sasuke's spare key as I wove through the jumping and thrashing bodies to the upbeat tune. I zipped my pocket shut once the tiny vial was securely in my hand. I finally crashed into Akio, who had left the bar to hug me. He was surprised at the force of my hug and I felt Suchiru's gaze on us. Pretending to be super excited to see him, I dropped the vial into his pocket as I moved to whisper into his ear with a fake smile on my face, making sure his face covered my lips so Suchiru couldn't lip read what I was saying.

"It's in your pocket. This guy is a personal enemy. Dope him up for me and keep my drinks light. It's too late to say no. _Don't fuck me, please_." I whispered quickly and pulled away.

"How've you been! I haven't seen you since Kiri!" I exclaimed, trying to make it look real so if Suchiru was lip reading he'd think it was actually a reunion. Cheerily, Akio laughed and hugged me again, causing a scene in front of the crowd we were standing near, falling into "character" perfectly. He whispered back into my ear, away from Suchiru's sight, using my face as cover. I made sure to nod my head, and smile, as if he were actually telling me something positive.

"It's been a while since I've done this with you, you know, and I kind of don't want to _die_. My girlfriend will bring me back to life and _kill_ me if I do!" He hissed, unhappily. "This is the last time, Saki." He explained, and then grinned once he let go.

"Do you want a reunion drink or your regular?" He asked cheerfully, acting flawlessly. I owed Akio something really special after tonight.

"I don't care what you make! I want something hard!" I jumped and pumped my fist into the air for emphasis, then winked at him flirtatiously to make Suchiru kind of jealous. Akio nodded.

"All right, let me get back to the bar I'll meet you over by your friend." Akio agreed amicably and turned away from me. As I pushed my way back to the other side of the bar and to the barstools Suchiru smiled at me.

"Old friend?" He asked over the booming music that everyone was literally causing small tremors to; a lot of people were jumping on the dance area and I could see waves of energy pulsate across the surface of the drinks that were on the bar.

"Yeah! An ex actually! Still friends though!" I explained bashfully with a blush.

"'Dude has no chakra!" Suchiru insulted as he took off his jacket. I took off mine and sat on it like he did.

"Hah! You don't need chakra to be great in bed!" I laughed and Suchiru blushed, laughing along with me. Of course, that wasn't entirely true, I really had liked Akio when we dated, it just didn't work out for us, but tonight was Suchiru's metaphorical funeral, so I didn't give a shit how many lies I fed him before the grand finale.

"I guess not!" He responded with a shrug.

Within seconds we had two tall drinks standing in front of us. Mine was pretty and pink and again decorated with fruit and Suchiru's was something fizzy and purple in color. The Yamanaka's eyes widened.

"Holy shit, Sakura. You can _drink_." He looked over at me, commenting on the size of the glass and Aki laughed at him.

"I'll probably lose half the stock of booze tonight because of you two shinobi." Aki grinned. Good he was playing it smart and casually making it known that he was a civilian with no shinobi tact whatsoever, even though that wasn't true. Akio and I had met when I was on a difficult mission with a difficult informant. I had to drug the guy to get the right answers. At the time, I had assaulted Aki in the men's bathroom after commenting that I had to go to the ladie's room, and made him _help_ me spike the guy's sake… and that's how we met. He helped me because he had gone through the academy program in kirigakure and kinda-sorta knew how to be discreet about things. I had gone to him to drink after that mission ever since and when I was stationed in Kiri to help them with their medical program… well… yeah we had seen a lot of each other so _naturally_ things had gotten hot and progressed.

Anyway, Akio's eyes connected with mine and I knew the deed had been done. That drink in front of Suchiru was going to be the beginning of a very, very bad ending to tonight; at least for him. I laughed charmingly.

"Come on, Aki-kun! I'm not _that _bad!" I blushed, thinking about the son that was playing. It was the one Sasuke and I had danced to. I could _still_ faintly remember the feel of his hands on my hips. I bit my lip cutely, but remembering how sexy Sasuke was, was making the problem Suchiru caused for me with his jutsu worse.

"All right, all right. Whatever you say. If you need anything just let me know." Akio mentioned and walked away after I nodded towards him. I bobbed up and down in my seat, sipping my drink through the straw with a wry smirk. Hah. There was _no _alcohol whatsoever in this drink. It was _water_. There was nothing but water, food coloring and some sugar to keep it all blended well in my glass. Hah! If only Sasuke knew; he'd laugh his ass off. How funny.

"_Don't drink_." Sasuke had said; and lo and behold, here Aki was, discreetly telling me the same thing. Oh man. Whatever, 'might as well enjoy watching Suchiru get fucked up on his own. Though, it was going to make the job harder to do, because I was going to have to pretend to get fucked up too, at least, until he was drunk enough to not notice.

"Wow this shit is _strong_." I watched as he gulped some of his glass. "And good." He added.

I chuckled. "I like strong." I flirted back with a double meaning.

"What else do you like?" Suchiru smirked and it was game _on_.

"I don't know, how about you guess my type? If you guess right I'll give you a kiss." I shrugged as if it were no big deal and cheerily sipped on my water, making sure to lubricate my eyes a little bit so I _looked_ like I was getting buzzed; all it took was the tiniest bit of chakra.

"Hmmm… you usually go for shinobi." He started and I nodded. He looked at me expectantly with his charming green eyes. I cocked a brow.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't I get a kiss?" He smirked. "I guessed right." Fucking _hound_. He was worse than Kiba!

"You have to be more descriptive than that!" I replied and we laughed together.

"You like dark hair." He guessed after a while.

"How'd you know that?" I asked. Really. How the _fuck_ did he know that? I was mildly alarmed though I think I made it believable that I was just surprised and curious.

"There's a little story about a pink-haired medic who liked a certain Uchiha traitor in their genin days. What you're first attracted to is what usually sticks with you for the rest of your life." He explained with a shrug. Textbook psychology and just a tiny scrap of knowledge. Tch. Mother fucker. Liars were in no position to preach about traitors.

"I like short, dark hair, but light hair is sexy too. I like short hair in general." I smiled and clarified. Though that was a lie. I made exceptions for long hair if the guy was hot enough. But again, I didn't care how much bullshit I spoon fed him tonight.

"Okay. So I'm assuming you like someone with a positive attitude. I can't imagine someone like you liking the strong, quiet type." He commented, and he was partially right. I did like optimists, but I usually went for the quiet ones. It was the quiet guys that had the sexiest, most forbidden thoughts, anyway. It was the quiet guys who said the right things when they spoke and could pleasure me the right ways. Usually the optimists were playful and open and fun to flirt with, but I had to do the work to make sex enjoyable at the end of the night. Optimists just expected things to just go right and tended to settle and assume that whatever was happening was pleasurable enough for both parties. Optimists were confident as well, so they naturally assumed they were just good, when in fact, there _were_ things they could improve on. The quiet ones were the ones that were the hardest to catch, anyway. They made the chase exciting and satisfying. Later on, they were the ones who took control in bed. They liked to learn every pleasurable spot with_ a lot _of safe, but effective foreplay and then exploit the hell out of it throughout the night. They focused more on you, whereas the optimists focused more on what they _thought_ you would like. But anyway…

"Go on." I continued, as if he were entirely right.

"You like a sweet personality— someone who can tell you exactly how amazing you are before _it_ happens." He smirked and I nodded. But what woman didn't like complements before she fucked a guy?

"Very good." I sensually applauded. "You have that part down just right." I smirked and he smiled back.

"Great, now gimme my kiss." He teased.

"Oh, don't worry… you'll get it. I happen to like to tease." I flirtatiously responded and polished off my sugar-water-food-coloring combination. "Oh wow, you're only halfway done!?" I chuckled and pointed at his drink before he could flirt back— I kind of didn't want to hear his response. He smiled, but he was blushing in embarassment. Hah. Suchiru wasn't much of a drinker. _Perfect_. _Drink_, you son of a bitch… Just get hammered so I can embarrass you and be on my way. I blushed, trying to keep the evil smirk off of my face because my next comment was going to get his jealousy going. "Sorry, I guess I'm just used to drinking with Sasuke." I chuckled, pretended to knock myself on the head with my fist and stuck my tongue out, comically. But again, that comment was _not_ so innocent. I _needed_ him to get competitive and what better way than comparing him to one of my practically legendary teammates? If he wanted to grasp my attention he'd have to outdo one of them. He knew that, deep down inside, so why not goad him by making him think Sasuke was a better drinker— which wasn't a lie anyway, because Sasuke _was_ incredibly tolerant to alcohol, though he was _so_ whiny the morning after.

"Saku-_ra_. I can drink, believe me." He responded and then downed his whole glass to prove me wrong. I sucked in a painful hiss of air because I felt bad for him. He took my bait… He was _really_ a lightweight and medically speaking, he shouldn't be drinking Akio's crazy-ass drinks if he couldn't hold his liquor. This was going to be a _really_ bad night for him… I could tell by his dilated pupils that the powder, as well as the pheromones I was wearing were starting to work their evil on him, too. He was already turned on when he told me I was beautiful back on the road. It was going to be twice as bad for him now because I had mixed a tiny hint of aphrodisiac into the powder that was put in his drink. Everything was coming down on him hard and fast— the alcohol, the aphrodisiac, the pheromones and the powder.

…Perfect…

"Oh, are you? Then prove it! Drink the next drink he gives you all in one shot! I bet you can't do it!" I teased and he smirked at me as I called over Akio. I felt my brain assault my body's hormones again and knew Suchiru was using his jutsu, but this time he was _sloppy_ about it, because he was already getting buzzed. I would have to hope that this next drink would make him unable to use his complicated jutsu, because if I get any more turned on I'm going to _really_ want _someone_ to have sex with. This wasn't fair… this was _not_ fair. I came here to drug him and ditch him and here he was drugging me and making me want what he had to offer… or rather what he _used_ to have to offer. He probably felt hard down there now, but I knew that by now, the powder had taken effect and he wasn't. He wouldn't be able to give me what I wanted later tonight anyway, so if I _did_ lose control of myself because of his asshole jutsu, that would work in my favor. I still had the upper hand. Besides, just a little more booze and he'd be slow and useless with his chakra anyway. He'd be unable to keep spiking my hormones.

Relax Sakura… Just relax.

Akio appeared and he studied my face. He looked mildly alarmed but pulled an effective smile anyway. Did I _look_ worried? I hope I didn't.

"What'll it be?" He asked with fake cheer. His blue eyes slid to Suchiru then back to me. He seemed to relax when he looked at me. I must have schooled my features back into believable drunkenness.

"Whatever you want." I responded in a carefree tone.

"I'll get you both your favorite, then. Just give me a minute!" He grinned at me and walked away. Thank kami-sama I had someone on my side tonight. I looked over and Suchiru's cheeks were pink. He was starting to get _wasted_. Whatever Akio had put in his drink had to be a lethal combination to get a man as tall and muscular as Suchiru so buzzed so quickly. Akio took me serious when I told him to dope Suchiru up. I bobbed my head to the music, idly. Suchiru looked at me bouncing around on my chair and laughed.

"You like to dance, huh?" He asked.

No shit…

"Yeah! It's fun!" I cheerily replied.

"I don't know how to; it's not my thing." He shrugged. Way to talk about yourself, asshole. Tch. _Sasuke_ didn't know how to either, _and_ it wasn't his thing as well, but he had learned on the spot because I wanted to dance with him.

"That's why they have the bar here, silly! Now come closer!" I teased. He moved to sluggishly push his bar stool closer to mine but I grabbed him by his shirt instead and crushed my mouth over his. I figured guys liked to be surprised with things like this. I conveyed "I want to fuck you" as best as I could through the kiss. It was a success because he kissed back just as passionately and even nipped my bottom lip with his teeth at one point.

I was still turned on and by that point that I had to fight to keep my responding moan back. I was _actually _really frustrated in a very sexual way. I _hated_ Suchiru's stupid jutsu. It was _fucked up_. To my delight, though, Suchiru moaned against my mouth and his tongue intertwined with mine. I had managed to get him slightly off guard. It was time to play him like a flute and make him think he had the upper hand.

"You're really hot, you know?" I whispered against his lips when we parted. Suchiru smirked. My mouth burned and tingled and shamefully, I wanted _more_ and I was starting to not care from who I got "more" from. This situation just when from dangerous, to _very_ dangerous. I was starting to lose control and I was _so_ grateful to Kami-sama, Sasuke _and_ Akio that I ended up _not_ drinking. If I was drunk, I would care even less what happened from here out and that would've been a terrible thing. The very idea scared me.

Get a fucking grip, Sakura.

And as if to sober me up, Inner reminded me of how comfortable it was sleeping next to Sasuke. How warm _Sasuke_ was at night. How _supportive_ he was when I woke up screaming. How good he smelled and how comforting he was when he rubbed my shoulder or my hand or any part of me, honestly, with his thumb. My cheeks burned but I remembered that I needed to teach this son of a bitch next to me a vicious lesson.

"So let's drink a bit more and go, hmm?" He replied and I noticed that his eyes were lazily looking all over my face practically in slow motion. His hand was on my thigh and rubbing circles into the skin, slowly. He was officially _really _drunk and the drugs were _definitely _working, and working _well_. It wouldn't be long before tonight was over. We jumped apart like caught teenagers when Akio showed up with our drinks, smiled in a sad way, turned around and left to the other side of the bar, playing his ex-boyfriend part impeccably. I jumped onto my drink and wanting the night to pass quicker, Suchiru started to vigorously drink his. I started tipping my colored water back and shooting him playful glances, trying to make him compete with me. He started to tip his drink back and drank at the same speed as me.

Oh man… he honestly had _no_ idea that my drink was really water, but I had built up a reputation of being a heavy drinker, and he was probably well on his way to being drunk by now so there was no way in hell he would ever get suspicious that I wasn't downing a glass of alcohol. Soon, our glasses were empty, and were quickly replaced with another tall set of colored drinks. We were _actually_ having a drinking competition at this point and it wasn't even a fun one, unfortunately. At least, not for me. I just made sure to smile in a sultry way and smirk like I was going to _destroy _him, which wasn't far from the truth anyway, just to keep him on his toes and keep him drinking. About four drinks and some lazy flirtatious banter that was too boring for me to really recall later, Suchiru was holding onto the bar to keep steady. He placed his empty glass down and his eyes were _so_ glazed they practically looked like fucking donuts.

"Hey… Suchi-kun, are you okay?" I asked cutely, feigning a concerned expression and putting a hand on his thigh, a little close to his package but just far away enough to re-establish the thought of sex in his mind. His reaction time was slow. Painfully slow.

"Y-yeah." He stuttered, placing his hand on top of mine. "Don't worry… are you okay?" He asked slowly. He was trying _hard_ not to slur. It was about time to get this shit over-with…

"I'm fine… I'd be better if maybe we… you know… left?" I shrugged my shoulder cutely but gave him a dirty smile. He smirked back at me, his cheeks pinker than my hair. This was it: the finale.

"Mm. Let's go." He responded and I immediately moved to slide off the barstool and grabbed my jacket. I made sure to pretend to wobble a little, just to stay believable, as he slid off of his chair and grabbed his jacket. Ever the vigilant one, Akio had at some point slipped the bill in front of Suchiru's spot at the bar. Suchiru pulled his wallet out, paid everything and tipped really well and pulled me along. I waved at Akio across the bar over my shoulder. Suchiru was already walking ahead, and grabbed my hand to drag me along through the crowd. Akio just nodded solemnly, his arms crossed as he walked to get the money Suchiru had left behind. I nodded back at him before I disappeared into the crowd, silently thanking him for helping me with something so dangerous.

Thank you, Akio… I'll make it up to you, I promise.

…

Fuck… now that's _three_ people I owe. Ugh, it was _much_ better being a loner. Anyway, the sea of people was so thick I was sure that to Suchiru it felt like he was fighting an actual ocean trying to get to the exit. I could only imagine how sluggish and leaden he must feel, and completely unaware that something was definitely, _horribly _wrong with him. I snickered to myself at the thought of the big surprise to come as we pushed through the door to the exit and were assaulted by the dreary sight of _pouring _rain. My ears rung and I could still hear the pulsating of the blaring music from inside the club. A bouncer with a cigarette in his mouth looked over at us, uncaringly as we hesitated under the awning of the club, hand-in-hand.

"Shit." I hissed, but really, I was glad for the rain. This would give me an excuse to finish him off faster. I needed to believably steer him to an inn. Conveniently, there was one nearby, he just happened to not be looking at it. I waited for him to come to the conclusion that we would _not _be running for 45 minutes through the pouring rain back to Konoha. No way.

"Konoha's too far and my fucking chakra's… slow." He growled. _Wow_ was he pissed. Hah… imagine what he was going to feel when he realized he couldn't use it? My heart thudded in panic in my chest at that thought. Anbu were deadly when they were angry… My alarms were starting to go off in my head; _Attention Haruno Sakura, you are entering dangerous territory! Retreat __**now**_! But I couldn't just run off, and besides, _I didn't drink_. I was in full control of my chakra so if he was pissed later and pulled anything on me I'd send him through a wall faster than you can say "ramen". My eyes trailed to the Inn just next door. I looked at the huge, decorated clock on an iron post in the center of the town where people were dancing with umbrellas. It was only 12:43, we really didn't spend much time in the club, thankfully... There should still be vacancies at this time. Awesome.

"Suchi-kun, there's an inn right there… wanna make a run for it?" I suggested cutely, bending over slightly so he could maybe see just a little down my dress. He smiled and nodded.

"Lead the way." And so it was my turn to pull him towards the inn through the pouring rain. I shivered as the fat, wet droplets _pelted_ my skin and soaked my dress and even my expensive suede boots. I pretended to stumble a few times as I dragged Suchiru along, again, just to keep up appearances. We made it to the inn passing a crowd of people who were laughing at us for being at an umbrella festival with no umbrellas. We dashed inside and my eyes widened at how traditional the inn was. It reminded me of the daimyo's palace, of which I've only been to once, but it was nice, nonetheless. There were rice paper doors and everything was made out of a dark, polished wood. We walked up to the tall, polished-stone front desk where an old woman in a navy-and-pink kimono with pinned-up, grey hair stood. She looked condescendingly at us with her faded olive eyes from behind her tiny glasses. Clearly she knew why we were here, both out of breath and red in the face; she undoubtedly disapproved of sex outside of marriage.

"Are there any vacancies, obaa-sama?" Suchiru politely asked and I was surprised he sounded relatively normal. I had to double-check his eyes to make sure he was still doped up. Wow. He was an anbu through-and-through. Only the elite could pull that kind of act while _this_ drunk.

"One." The woman responded.

"We'll take it, please." I smiled as innocently and politely as I could .

"Sign your names. The price is two-hundred gold." She swiveled a book around and both Suchiru and I penned false names in. He saw the surname I used and wrote that surname down for himself to make it seem like we were recently married or something. That was _smart_ for someone who was wasted, and I was again impressed with his ability to think and act under the influence. The woman's attitude changed _immediately _upon reading our falsified names. She smiled at us as Suchiru paid her the money. She gave us our room key and told us it was to the right and on the second floor. We tried to climb the stairs as slowly as possible to not seem too eager, but once we were in the hall upstairs and noticed that it was empty Suchiru picked up his pace. He was _fast_, even though he was drunk and he was still holding my hand so I almost stumbled behind him in my heels; they were starting to hurt my feet, finally. Oh well, I guess all good things must come to an end, right? Speaking of which, he found the door and with some difficulty _finally _unlocked and flung it open.

Once inside, I shut the door behind me. He pushed me up against the door, and hoisted me up by my thighs. I wrapped my legs securely around his waist as my back slid up the wood of the door. His mouth crashed over mine and he threw the room key and his coat off to the side. I dropped my blazer as I snaked my arms around his shoulders and neck, kissing back fervently. I had to admit, I was still pretty turned on and the fact that the white shirt he was wearing was sticking _deliciously_ to his abs was _not_ helping that fact. I tugged on the hair at his nape and he groaned, sliding a hand up my dress to grab my ass.

"Mnnph!" I mewed against his lips as his calloused trailed across the sensitive skin of my backside.

"Fuck." He cursed, _so_ turned on. His voice was _so_ undeniably deep and provocative when he spoke. He pressed me against the door with his hips and impeccable abs and I held onto him as he pulled my dress over my butt, up my back and then over my head. I lifted my arms momentarily so he could take it off the rest of the way. This is why I wore no bra. It would be easier for him to get lost in the image of a naked woman. There would be no turning back or second-guessing for him if he had suspected me of doing something to him at this point. I gasped when I felt his lips on my left nipple just as I chucked the dress somewhere to my left. He sucked, hard and I moaned legitimately, grabbing a handful of his hair as he kissed up my breast to my neck. _Kami-sama_ that felt so good…

"Ah~hn… S-Suchir_u_…" I hazily whispered as he sucked on the skin by my pulse-point. I had to admit… that got me _really _needy. The throbbing between my legs increased tenfold.

"Mm…" He moaned against my neck, wrapped his arms around me securely and then turned around, walked a few paces and dumped us both on top of what I think was a large, queen-sized bed. We hadn't cared to turn any lights on in our haste so it was dark and I couldn't really tell what I was lying on, not like it would matter. We continued to kiss and I tasted the _incredible_ amount of alcohol in his saliva as our lips and tongues met again. _kami-sama_ he was a good kisser. His one hand trailed roughly down the curve of my side as I grabbed his soaked shirt and partially lifted it up. He was in between my legs as he lifted himself up into a kneeling position and took the shirt off the rest of the way. My heart hammered in my head, almost drowning out my thoughts.

The colored lights from the festival outside glowed warmly through the blinds and hit his form in the darkness of the room. He was fucking _beautiful_ as he threw his shirt somewhere to the side. I heard it hit a wall as I trailed a nervous hand down his chest, across a hardened nipple, over the smooth plains of his abs and to the cool belt buckle of his jeans. He was breathing deeply and steadily as he watched me touch him in the dark. His eyes flitted _everywhere_; I was almost embarrassed of myself. His gaze drank me in like he was an addict and I was his drug. He reached over and started to slip my thong down my legs. I placed a halting hand atop his and gave him a sultry smile. He tipped his head to the side in question.

"You first…" I coyly called out into the dark because I _couldn't _fail my personal mission.

**Remember! Remember what he did! Keep your head in the game! Shannaro! **

_Right._ I focused for a second, then grabbed his waist and pushed him over. He easily complied and let me have the top. I was sure in a battle, he'd never _ever_ let himself be handled so easily, but that didn't matter at the moment. He smiled superiorly up at me in the dark and I smiled at him back. The smug mother fucker thought I was going to get crazy with him… Tch, I let myself get _mad_. I was _pissed_ that he was there, lying beneath me, practically waiting for me to service him with no fucking respect. Fucking asshole. I was mad that my clothes were off, mad that I was still cold and _livid_ that my cute underwear was now all wet because he had reached into my brain earlier with his _douche_y, invasive jutsu and fucked with me!

Out of spite, I upped my game and decided to tease him a bit.

Slowly, I trailed tantalizing kisses down his chest, because I was going to _fuck him over_ and I wanted the build up to be _intense_. I kissed him down his abs. I kissed his hips and licked the "v" just above his waist. All the while, he moaned and took my hair pin out and placed it on the bed to the side.

"Saku~_ra_…" He breathed and I fucking hated the way he said my name. Slowly, I unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his jeans, zipped his fly down and idly noticed that he had kicked off his shoes and socks at some point without me really noticing. I resisted the urge to glare, because my boots were still on. Fucking lecher. He was going to _fuck_ me with my shoes on. What was I, his personal whore? Tch. You have another thing coming, son of a bitch! I pulled his remaining clothes down his legs and threw them to the side, keeping eye contact the entire time. I made _sure_ to not look at his penis, because I wanted him to think I was _really _into him and what we were doing. Also, if I looked at it, he was going to look at it and then watch me for a reaction. I didn't want him to be aware of the terrible surprise that was waiting for him just yet… Slowly, I trailed my nails down his lower abs and watched him shudder… I tugged a little on the hair around his treasured body part and noticed the way he impatiently bit his bottom lip as his green eyes watched me _hungrily_… then… I _finally_ reached over and wrapped my fingers around it.

As expected, he was flaccid… He was as flaccid and malleable as the sponge in Sasuke's kitchen sink. I gasped audibly and made sure to make myself look _extra _shocked and _extremely _offended. This was it… this was the final act… _finally_! It had taken all night to get to this moment!

He looked down at himself in my small hand. He was as surprised as I pretended to be… _horrified_, even. There was no ultra-hard, ride-able cock in my hand… just a flaccid penis… and his broken dreams. We both looked at it for a few silent, heavy moments as he sat up in alarm. I dropped it like a soiled tampon. It hit his body with an audible slapping sound… soft fleshy skin against skin… how pathetic.

"I— I can't believe this… I can't believe _you_." I made sure to sound _extra _disappointed as I shook my head and crossed my arms. He started to scramble to save the moment…

"No, no, I probably just had too much; we can do other things while we wait for it to—

I pressed my fingers to his lips, cutting off his panicked response and shook my head yet again.

"Look, I won't say anything about this, okay? Just… don't lead me on next time… I really thought—

I cut myself off, deciding not to say any more and slid off the bed, grabbing my red and white hair pin in the process. I remembered where I threw my dress and my blazer and went to go collect both while he sat at the edge of the bed, holding his head in silent shame. I dressed myself, double checked to make sure Sasuke's key was still in the inside pocket of my blazer and slowly exited the room and walked down the hall till I was _sure_ he couldn't hear my heels anymore. I waved to the confused woman at the front desk, not giving a _shit_ what her opinion of me was, and slowly walked out into the pouring rain. The crowds were thinner now and only a few people here and there remained for the late-night entertainment and games. I walked towards the exit of the festival town, catching sight of their town clock, which told me it was officially 1:15 am and I needed to get the hell back to Konoha. I looked up at the sky as I hugged myself to fruitlessly shield myself against the rain and laughed as thunder clashed and lightning lit up the sky. The rain seemed to pour harder at my outburst. A few people passed by me and stared at me strangely. I ignored them and sat at my and Sasuke's unofficial bench. I took some time to re-stabilize the chemicals in my brain. Even though the effects of Suchiru's jutsu were minimal, I did _not_ want to go back to Sasuke's apartment feeling needy and easily turned on.

Once my system was back to normal, I started to dash back to Konoha, painful high-heels be damned. I was going to need a warm shower, some comfy pajamas and my stupid, confusing teammate to make up for the awful night I just had to experience.

-X-

Well, _that_ came out a lot longer than I thought it was going to. Did you guys like the outcome? I wanted to unexpectedly write a full-blown lemon, _but_ this wasn't the time for it. It would end up too cliché that way in my opinion. How did you guys feel about Sakura's revenge? I thought it was awesome, though I personally think she should have just rejected every one of his offers to go out with her instead, but this Sakura is a little messed up after four years, so naturally she didn't do the most mature thing. Whatever. Either way I think I got some laughs out of you guys and I'm glad this chapter is over. I wasn't enjoying writing it just as much as Sakura wasn't enjoying her time with Suchiru. Next chapter is going to be Sasuke and I have to say I'm _excited _to get back into writing him! GOD I MISSED WRITING HIM ALREADY T_T

…

Seriously this isn't healthy. But anyway, leave me some reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ™

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	20. My First Time Playing Dress-Up

KISEKI

|20|

_**DEAR READERS**_**,**

GOD this was another chapter that I just had to write, re-write and re-write again. THIS IS THE FIFTH FULL RE-WRITE! Sasuke and Sakura like to just write themselves, let me tell you. I can't just put them in funny situations anymore because… well because Sasuke is going to take it to places it just can't go yet! I hope you guys like it the way it came out.

On the bright side I GOT A NEW JOB YAAAAAAYYY! I have a whole week before I go in for training so I'm going to make the best of it and write this fic as much as possible. I'm also planning on starting an entirely new fic as well because I have plot bunnies hopping around in my head and my freakin' gosh they're so good! So if you guys are up for comedy adventure and definitely some unexpected plot twists…. Yeah keep your eyes peeled I'll let you know!

OH yeah, this is also the fifth author's note I've rewritten lmfao! God I really hope you guys are reading these things hahahaha!

**ENJOY! **

-X-

I trudged tiredly into my apartment at around 12:45 am; a couple of hours with people I considered my friends did me some good. I went to the liquor store after Naruto dropped by to get me and we bought a huge bottle of the best imported whiskey we could find. Sai happened to like it and I ended up drinking two bar glasses of it. I found out that Sai and I have similar taste in alcohol. His taste in books is shit, however; he should honestly just leave the psychology to Ino. While at Sai's, Naruto watched some dumb fantasy show full of smut and breasts with some heavy plot as far as I could tell, with Kakashi and surprisingly _Choji_ who I didn't think would openly watch a show like that, while Shikamaru, Sai and I played cards the entire time. We played poker first, and it turned out to be a very intense game since all three of us have _exceptional _poker faces. It was hard to guess what they had in their hands, so I had to take some randomized risks, which felt liberating to do, considering shinobi can't normally just take random risks in battle, unless they're Naruto. Either way it felt good to just go with my gut instinct for once in a safe environment. It was like a stress release.

It was a relatively boring night at the end, which had Naruto screaming about us getting old again. Sai's apartment wasn't really that messed up and no one threw up on his nice wooden floor. I _still_ don't get why my apartment is usually trashed every time we decide to hang out at it; I was envious that nothing happened to his precious home, to be honest. Shikamaru Said something about it being because my parties were wilder because I had better taste in TV, though he only said that to rile Naruto and insult his stupid fantasy show. I smirked at the memory.

I was still slack from the whiskey and heavily lifted my arm to lock the door. I took another quick shower to wash the stink of cigarette off— no thanks to Shikamaru— and climbed into bed. I would be a dirty liar if I said that I didn't feel… _alone_… and not in a good way, either. How did I manage to sleep by myself before Sakura had started spending the nights with me? It was much more comfortable to have her smaller body nestled against mine. Granted, I woke up with dead-arm sometimes and more often than not, an awkward boner, but nothing beat the sensation of her soft, warm hands on my chest in the morning. I turned over a few times, feeling like I was forgetting something. The storm raged on outside, lightning mildly illuminating the inside of my bedroom. Sakura was out in that storm without an umbrella… That thought sobered me a little and I sat straight up. She'll probably want a shower when she gets back, for reasons both sexual in nature and not.

With a grimace at that last thought, I climbed out of bed and moved over to my closet, pulling out the clothes that she was using as pajamas. I folded them and placed them on top of the sink in the bathroom. Hopefully she'd go there first and see them there.

I fidgeted in the bathroom, clenching and unclenching my fists warily as the cold from the tiled floor seeped into the skin of my calloused feet. Sakura was standing right there, just hours ago. Should I have just kissed her? Would it have made her stay? I should have noticed what she was _actually _going to have to do… but then again, was it so hard for her to kiss and touch a man she didn't love?

It was a miserable thought, but aside from Naruto we had _all_ done that at some point, even Sakura, who I thought would always remain innocent and untainted until maybe about two weeks ago. I shut the light in the bathroom and headed back over to my bed. Annoyed, I threw myself on top of the bed and forced my eyes shut. My dreams soured into nightmares. But they weren't nightmares of the massacre or anything that had really bothered me in the past. They were nightmares about Sakura and Naruto and everyone else I had grown to care for. For some reason, Naruto had a son in the nightmare. The boy was the first to die. I didn't know what killed him or why. But slowly, it started to kill us all off until it wasn't safe to leave your home anymore.

-X-

I awoke later to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. I was grateful for the interruption. My nightmare had made me feel hollow and dark.

_Sakura_... At least I'd have something to distract my mind from the dream. I turned my head and my eyes darted to the alarm clock on my nightstand. The glowing numbers read 1:45. I haven't been asleep long. Tiredly, I pulled my body out of bed once more and trudged into the kitchen, flicking on the lights. I noticed a pile of rumpled black in the little lowered section of space in front of my apartment door. Curiously, I pulled out two cups for tea and set the water in the teapot to boil. I meandered over to dark mass on my floor. It was a pile of Sakura's clothes. There was a puddle of water next to them that she had covered haphazardly with a rag…

…

Sakura had been running around in stealth mode… _naked_… in _my_ apartment… and I was fucking _asleep_; dead to the world while she did it. I tsked at the missed chance; it would have been entertaining to catch her in the act. I picked up the clothes and wrung them dry in the sink, then moved to dump them into my hamper. They would sour, so we'd have to go do laundry in between training tomorrow, or tomorrow night. I ghosted my way back over to the puddle and cleaned it up, wringing the rag out into the sink as well and letting it hang off the edge to dry. I looked at the wet boots tucked into a corner and shrugged. They could stay there; I didn't particularly feel like storing them in a spare seal.

By then the water was done heating. I fished around in my pantry until I found the tea I wanted; chamomile. Why am I even awake… making tea, no less? I literally shrugged to the open air; to myself. I just… wanted to make tea for…_us_. Sakura had shut off the shower as I poured the steamy water into the cups over the tea. I assumed she was getting dressed as I watched the chamomile turn the hot water in the cups a light amber color. Just a minute later, the bathroom door silently, inaudibly opened. I didn't hear Sakura behind me until she audibly gasped.

"Oh! Sasuke… I woke you; I'm sorry…" She apologized and I _fucking heard _the slight awkwardness in her voice. Did she think I was going to grill her with questions about her night? No. I made the fucking tea so she would enjoy something and _forget _what happened; not because I wanted an excuse to pull information out of her. I wasn't nosy. That adjective was reserved for Ino.

"Want tea?" I asked trying to sound as tired and un-inquisitive as possible. Thankfully, I succeeded.

"How can I say no, when you already made it?" Now I heard the smile in her tone. Good. I was partially hoping she wouldn't burst out of that door crying and begging for comfort. I'd call her stupid; it was _her_ decision to go out and do what she did. It was just another sign that Sakura had matured in more ways than one. She silently moved into the kitchen area as I placed our cups at the table. I sat down, tiredly in the chair. To be honest, I kind of threw myself into it, actually. The wood hurt my ass and I slightly winced. I was still mildly sluggish from the whiskey earlier. I just wanted to _sleep_… with _her_… in a completely non-sexual way… okay, I still wanted her _that_ way too, just not tonight, regardless of how nice her legs looked as she crossed them, sitting sideways in the chair. Why did I make this tea, again and set myself up for the torture of looking at her all damp from her recent shower? I should have just stayed in bed; we'd be asleep by now. Oh right, I was antsy anyway... chamomile would help with that.

Actually, now that we were sitting at the table I felt much better in general. We had been eating together day and night since she started staying here. It was a habit I had gotten comfortable with. It just didn't feel right to go to sleep without at least sitting at the table with her once. Why? I don't fucking now. It's one of those domestic things I was talking about a while ago. Sakura makes me think _domestically_. She makes me think about_ home_ and how to make this one a happier one. It's not a good mindset to be in; not when she doesn't feel half a shit for me. I sipped on my tea, wondering when I had gotten so caught up in my feelings for her. I felt vulnerable and unguarded and part of me didn't like that at all. It was not a way I was used to being, _ever_. I carefully watched her as she thoughtfully smiled at her cup, picked it up and sipped from it. I was surprised when she started to talk after she finished sipping, keeping her hands gently wrapped around the warmth of the cup. I felt my heart pound a little faster when her thoughtful smile turned into a triumphant smirk. Her green eyes were _shining_. She looked victorious and smug and though normally, on a pink-haired woman that kind of expression looked _odd,_ I decided it fit Sakura, given who she had become over the years. I loved it on her.

"I wish you could have _seen_ his fucking face, Sasuke." She started off and I shot her back a smirk of my own. Yes, I wish I could have seen his face, too. I would be horrified if I looked down and realized my dick wasn't working even though I was perfectly healthy and ready to go otherwise. My ego almost hurt _for_ him. That must have been embarrassing in front of someone as sexy and accomplished as Sakura. Yamanaka played a dangerous game, not realizing that Sakura could be a dangerous opponent. Somewhere, I felt a bit of pride that she could defend herself in so many different ways.

"How limp was it?" I asked eventually, taking a page from Naruto's book of blunt, disgusting questions. She looked momentarily surprised before she burst into a fit of laughter. I gave her a mild smile as I watched her hold her stomach and shake with laughter. Was what I said _that_ funny?

"Ha! A-hahahah! S-Sasu— hahhahahahaha! Sasuk_e_!" Her face was in her arm on the table now and she was slapping her knee. "It—

Another fit of giggles and snickers…. –It reminded me of the sponge in your sink!" She laughed again and I snorted and started to laugh myself; not because of limp-dick-Yamanaka, but because I imagined her pulling down his pants and seeing a sponge instead of a dick.

"Oh kami-sama his _face!" _She lifted her head, pushed aside a damp piece of pink hair and wiped the tears from her beautiful eyes. Her cheeks were pink, a healthy rosy color. If she was cold before, she wasn't now. She wiped the wetness from her eyes onto the shirt she was wearing. I shook my head as my own laughter died and continued drinking the tea I made. The chamomile was working. Most of the tension and nerves were gone. Laughing had helped as well.

"It was worth it… I just hope he doesn't retaliate if he finds out that it was my fault he didn't work down there..." She added even though I hadn't said anything. I was happy she was comfortable with talking _at_ me again; she hasn't done that since we were kids… On a side note, her voice wasn't nearly as annoying as it used to be, back then; her tone was calm and smooth and she didn't seem to scramble for something to talk about. It was _natural_ for her to talk and for me to listen.

Still, her statement alarmed me as I analyzed it further. I narrowed my eyes. Yamanaka knew I was behind his stomach flu. If he's not _normal_ down there for longer than he should be after a night of what I'm assuming was probably intense drinking on his part, then he'll get suspicious eventually. I wonder if he'll come back and assume I did something again… I looked at Sakura's concerned expression as she stared at my table…

…

….

….

…

Better me than her… I'd rather him lash out at me than at her. Honestly.

"Maybe you should tell Tsunade what you did; just in case something _does_ happen…" I suggested. I was counter-strategizing already. Yamanaka was no fool; he was a formidable thinker and a deadly killer. He wouldn't chance killing Sakura— no shinobi would ever take out their own unless they wanted to be hunted by their own country— but he would _try_ to get back at her; make her life a living hell in the non-lethal ways he knows how, and I wasn't about to condone that or let it happen.

She shrugged. She fucking _shrugged_, like it _wasn't _an impending problem. It _was_ and I didn't understand why she wasn't seeing it the way I was seeing it. Did she not give a shit about herself?

"It's not a bad idea, but she won't be happy with me, either. If I could pick an opponent I'd rather pick Suchiru over Tsunade-sama's temper any day." She grimaced and I couldn't disagree more. Tsunade was as protective of Sakura as a mother goose was of her goslings. No; that was a shitty analogy, I could do better; geese were vicious when their young were threatened, but bears were worse. Tsunade was like a bear and Sakura was her cub. _That _was more accurate. The point is that, even _if_ Sakura was in the wrong for retaliating against Yamanaka—in a particularly vicious manner, too— Tsunade would _still_ ensure her safety, nonetheless. Any possible punishment on Sakura's part would be akin to a slap on the wrist, whereas if Yamanaka does anything to her, they'll have enough information to put him on probation for a while and keep him from messing with her.

….

….

If I can't convince her to cover her own ass I'll just tell Naruto about it. I already told him about how Sakura ended up going out with Yamanaka tonight and what she planned on doing on the way to Sai's. If I told him I thought she was in danger he'd find someone to tail her and at the very least keep her physically safe.

"I think it's better that you cover your blind spots…" I replied subtly, because I didn't want to argue with her, because I had a counter-strategy already waiting if I couldn't convince her. She looked up and frowned at me.

"He won't retaliate. It'll be fine." She assured, but I wasn't an idiot and I didn't know why she was acting like one. Did she just not _feel_ like covering all her bases? Was she being _lazy_ about it? Those were damning words, regardless. 'It'll be fine." Every time _anyone's _ever said that to me, shit went _straight_ to hell right after, and _fast_. They mostly came out of Suigetsu's mouth, naturally. That's _exactly _what he said before the fight with Killer Bee and we had _barely _survived that fight. I decided not to pressure her. I shrugged, but tomorrow Naruto would hear of this.

"Akio helped me. He was the one that slipped it into his drink…" She murmured with a faraway look in her eyes. She was remembering something. I let her think. It wasn't often she talked in that tone. It sounded sad, almost guilty. "I put him in a lot of danger and pressured him a lot. You don't know him much, but he hates situations like the one I put him in tonight. I feel really bad for what I did… it was fully worth it, but I know that I probably should have just rejected Suchiru until he got the point instead of going out to hurt him emotionally and mentally." She explained and frowned into her tea, then took a long sip.

She was right of course. Revenge was _stupid_. I was the poster child for the aftermath of vengeance and my life has been anything but great. However, the vengeance she had gotten was petty on the grand scale, at least compared to mine. She hadn't _killed_ anyone. She had just… "killed" an important moment in a man's life. It wasn't _that _bad. Though I'm sure I could only say that because I wasn't the victim in this situation. But again, the effects were temporary and anything was miles better than death, right?

Maybe instead of getting mad at Sakura, Yamanaka would actually just get pissed with me and chalk her need for revenge up to me telling her about the mission and how he acted towards Yugao. At the worst I'd get a summons from the Hokage because he'd cry wolf about secrecy and the lack of it in regards to me, which is bullshit anyway; I'd let Ino run through my mind a thousand times to prove that I never uttered a word about the mission, but still, it would cause me some headaches. I sighed audibly and I felt Sakura's eyes on me.

_Why_ the hell am I doing this to myself? Why am I strategizing for every possible situation like this is some sort of battle? It's not like worrying will help. I'd meet up with Naruto tomorrow at lunch and tell him about it. I don't want to fight with Sakura, so I'll have to bring him into it. I could talk with him about it more tomorrow. Case closed.

"Are you okay?" She asked, innocently. I looked up at her, surprised she said anything at all. I didn't realize how tense my body was as I was thinking, which only affirmed my previous thoughts: it was way too late in the night for this shit. I was going to end it right here. I gave her a serious look, which I could see she took seriously. Her eyes were studying my face intently as she waited for me to speak.

"No, I'm not. Just do me the favor and tell Tsunade, please. I'd rather not get any headaches from this." I asked as politely as I could, but I think my tone was a little harsher than it should be anyway. She narrowed her eyes at it but shrugged, agreeing anyway.

"Okay… if you want me to. Do you really think Suchiru will think you said something to turn me against him?" Hn. She was sharp. She was already guessing at what was in my head. I was impressed. The intelligence department might want to hire her in the future.

"I had a mission with him." I stated the obvious, to which she nodded; we both knew that. I was the one person who had been in contact with him recently that knew of his shittyness. "He may come to a particular conclusion and I don't feel like bringing him to death's door claiming it was a training accident on paper..." I explained in short. She nodded sagely as if she understood.

"I'll go tell her tomorrow then… But you owe me lunch because she is _not_ going to like what I did." She stated in a half-growl. Her eyes were playful, though, and I held back the weird bursts of feeling in my chest. I felt light and tense but in a good way. I was honestly _pleasantly surprised_ at what she offered. Was _Sakura_ really pushing me into having lunch with her? I gave her a smirk in response. She was forgetting something important.

"Fine, but only if you let me pick out your spicy dish." I responded pettily, reminding her of the other deal we made. Her face dropped into a surprised expression, which then morphed into once of annoyance.

"_Really, _Sasuke!? Can we _please _drop that already? You had fun at Hofuku! Don't fucking lie either; you laughed! I remember! If you didn't suffer why should I?" She argued. Her finger was inches away from my nose as she pointed at me vehemently. She was blushing. She _really _didn't want to eat a spicy dish and honestly, I didn't care for her to, so I shrugged, deciding to show a little mercy. I'd rather have her enjoy eating with me. I'd rather_ not_ have her dread going to lunch with me. I'd rather have her look forward to seeing me.

"…_One _pepper?" I asked, because I was still Uchiha Sasuke and I bowed down to no one. She thought about it before she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"It can't be anything too crazy. There are some _hot_ peppers out there, Sasuke…" Okay, so she realized I'd manipulate that situation… Again, she was _sharp_. I then thought of lesser punishments.

"One slice of a spicy pickle." I eventually offered. It was easy enough to agree to. She smiled.

Success…

"Deal." And she finished up the rest of her tea as I downed the rest of mine. Before I could even move she was up and pulling my empty cup out of my hands. I glared up at her and then stood, towering over her pink head. We were both clutching onto my cup with one hand. My longer fingers gently brushed against hers. Her fingertips were slightly calloused, and her fingers but small and feminine. I liked them.

"I'll do it." She stubbornly growled up at me. I narrowed my eyes and glared down at her.

"No." I replied, my tone just as ironclad and immovable as her own. Her ready-to-fight expression turned into a dejected pout.

"How do you _do_ that?" There she went again, popping her hip out with a mock-attitude, making me want to place my hand there. I cocked an eyebrow. How do I do what, exactly? All I said was "no".

"Do what?" I asked smoothly, betraying none of what I was thinking.

Suddenly, she poked me, right under my armpit. My grip on my teacup loosened as I jerked at the unexpected assault. I was _mildly_ ticklish and in only _some _spots! How had she figured it out?! She grinned, held up two fingers in a victory sign and sashayed— yes, fucking _sashayed_— over to the sink triumphantly. I guess it's redundant to remind you how nice her ass and legs are when she walks like that.

"You never answered me." I smoothly spoke as I moved to follow her and eventually leaned against the counter next to her. I prepared myself to dry and store away whatever she washed.

"How do you just shut people down with your voice?" She clarified as she scrubbed a cup. "You said one word and I thought twice about what I was doing." She detailed. I chuckled to myself.

"Practice." That was a complete and blatant lie. My authoritative tone just came to me naturally. She looked over at me with a "yeah, riiiiight…" kind of expression and rolled her eyes. I was glad she caught onto my bullshit.

"Ha-ha… _so_ funny." She drawled sarcastically. Then it looked as if a comical thought struck her and she giggled. "I bet it's from rejecting all those women. Your 'no' is scary." Then she laughed to herself. I found myself smiling at her. I'm a fucking idiot; I should say something to defend myself, but I didn't have the heart to. I liked it when she laughed. I didn't really give a shit that she was making fun of me either. Part of it was because I like her; the other part was because she's probably right. I had to make sure throughout my _entire_ life that "no" actually meant "no" and not, "come hit on me harder". Some women were more persistent than others. I had gotten my ass grabbed on several occasions and had to make sure that I sounded dangerous and serious when I refused something, or really, when I made a point of anything at all. It wasn't until later in life that people actually started to listen to what I had to say, so I had to learn to make it count the few times I actually spoke.

I shrugged my shoulders in response and dried and stored away the second cup she finished washing, and then the tea pot. It was an _ungodly_ hour; near 2:30 in the morning; I hadn't realized that we talked for so long. After she shut off the water and dried her hands she gave me a small, grateful smile. I nodded.

I felt calm as I led the way to my room. Naturally, she flicked off all the lights behind us. It was dark in my room, aside from the lightning flashing through the blinds in my window, coupled with the soft, warm glow from the orange streetlights below. I turned towards her with a bland expression, and bowed in an over-exaggerated manner. I kept the same aristocratic expression as I gracefully straightened back up with my nose in the air and made a sarcastically flamboyant motion with my arm to usher her into bed first. She smirked at me and over-exaggerated a foreign curtsy, holding an imaginary dress _way_ out to her side as she did so. I snickered at how big her imaginary dress must have been in her mind.

"How princely of you, Sasuke-_sama_." She mocked a refined, polite tone and pulled back the covers, climbing into the bed.

"Yes, thank you; your dress suits you, Sakura-hime." I drawled back, playing along. She snorted as I climbed in.

"Wow, 'Sakura-hime' huh? 'Careful, I'm starting to like that one." She half-threatened. I chuckled as I pulled her close like the night before, but tonight was different. She wasn't facing away from me. Being so close to her lips and having her eyes shine up at me like that made me nervous. I continued the joke if only to suppress the nervousness I felt.

"I think I prefer 'King Sasuke' or 'your majesty' to 'Sasuke-sama'. You fucked that one up." I replied, feigning an offended tone. She giggled in response.

"Oh, how foolish of me, I _do_ apologize for bruising your 'royal ego', _your majesty_, I certainly won't repeat such an offensive blunder!" And she snorted again, unable to stay serious.

"You'd be a terrible stand-in for an actual princess." I replied dryly. I couldn't see her being a decoy princess on a mission, not with that bold attitude.

"You'd be surprised, I did it once. All I had to do was stay quiet… until the caravan was attacked, of course." She replied, matter-of-factly.

"Tch, _quiet_? 'Not the princesses I've met." No princess _I've_ ever escorted was _quiet_. They were polite and refined, yes, but not _quiet_. They had a million questions and would never shut up enough to let me do my job in peace.

"Oh of _course_ they'd want a chance to catch the eyes of the great Uchiha Sasuke." She rolled her eyes. I smirked at the small hint of laughter in her tone. "How else would they get your attention?" She waved her hand around for emphasis before returning it to my shoulder. Where she touched tingled; her smaller hand felt _right_ where it was.

Speaking of gaining my attention, _she_ certainly has it now… How did _she_ do it?

…

…

…

She acted like a complete _bitch_ to me.

…

…

…

That was about when I realized there was something fundamentally wrong with me. I liked her _because_ she stood up to me. She didn't let me get away with my shit. I felt broken and backwards, before I realized there was something fundamentally wrong with Sakura too, and that I wasn't the only odd one in this room. Well, at least we can be broken and backwards together, right?

"They don't have a chance, anyway. I don't go for princesses." I replied factually. "They just want money and a bodyguard bound to them by marriage; I'd rather kiss Naruto for the rest of my life." I responded with a grimace, because I would probably throw up if I had to kiss Naruto for the rest of my life, but it was the lesser of the two evils.

Sakura fell into another bout of laughter and I smirked, proud of myself for making her smile. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when she snaked her hand down my chest and stomach and then hugged me tightly around my waist. She placed her palm flat against the center of my back as she leaned over placing her chin on my shoulder. I was astonished. She hadn't hugged me since… probably since the chunin exams when we were twelve… I still remembered that hug to this day, too. That one was nice because it helped the curse mark recede, but this one was _way _nicer. She was warm and soft and feminine against me and I liked it; _a lot_. I hugged her back as I mentally shook myself out of my surprise. I didn't want to just lay there like a dead fish as she hugged me. I wanted her to know that whatever kindness she showed me, I'd reciprocate. She deserved it after all the shit I put her through.

"Arigato, Sasuke." She murmured quietly, sleepily into the shell of my ear. She pulled back and dropped her head on the pillow. Her eyes were already leisurely closed. There was a peaceful smile on her face. I pulled her closer to me.

"For what?" I asked and my tone came out softer than I thought it would.

"Mm~hmn…" She was asleep already, nuzzling into my chest like it was perfectly fine leaving me guessing.

…

…

…

But then again, I suppose it was all right, since I left her hanging eight years ago with the same exact words and didn't do much to explain myself either. At least she wasn't leaving me on a bench.

She won't ever know… no one will ever know what I did next… I even felt stupid and corny just thinking about what I did, so I guarantee you that no one will ever find out that I…

…I kissed the top of her head. And just when I did that I realized how much I had missed her tonight. She had left and I couldn't get her out of my fucking head. No amount of cards or alcohol or TV could ever distract me from her for long, especially if she was putting herself in some form of danger. I hugged her because I realized just how fucking raw my emotions were and how fucking vulnerable they made me feel.

I had no shield against her. She could really fucking destroy me if she wanted to. She could take every feeling I have and smash it to pieces with just a few words and somehow that thought made me afraid. I practically shook with fear. If she ever said she couldn't love me ever again after what I had done to her, I would understand completely, but she would fucking break something inside of me and I don't think I could ever fix it afterwards.

It was funny, really, how an innocent-looking, pink-haired woman could be so dangerous to _me_, specifically. I had deadly skills in genjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and kenjutsu. I could electrocute people, stab people, escape from nearly every trap and every situation with my life fully intact leaving the corpses of my enemies strewn about at my feet. I had eyes that could _literally_ kill with just one look. Yet, Sakura… _Sakura_ of all people had somehow become the closet person to me and had a metaphorical kunai pointed directly at my chest, no less… and I was fucking defenseless. I shook my head as I looked down at her. Her one arm was draped around my waist, the other was in between us, her small fist curled against my pectoral muscles. She had a tiny smile on her face, completely and utterly unaware of the impact she had on me.

I've said this before countless times… but I'm going to take a second to reaffirm it and let you know that this time I fully mean it…

I, Uchiha Sasuke, am a fucking idiot.

-X-

That morning, I awoke feeling _warm_ everywhere, and very, _very_ aroused… to the point where it was _annoying_. I groaned because I was turned on _again_ and I was tired of not being able to just fuck someone to get it out of my system. I blearily opened my eyes and realized that it was still early morning; I had to get up and go train Udon and I had only gotten a few hours of sleep. I looked down and saw Sakura, in the same position she was in when I fell asleep, except her fingers had curled around the sturdy metal of my brother's necklace and her one leg had _invitingly_ wrapped around my waist. I looked up towards my ceiling with a dejected expression. I felt like pulling my hair in frustration. Why me? As if to scorn me, she shifted, slightly moving closer to me, gripping me tighter with her leg, pressing my penis just a bit closer to the softness between her legs. I didn't realize I had pulled away from her to cause her to pull me closer. To calm my own nerves, I ran my fingers through her hair, surprised that I only ran into some small knots. The smile on her face persisted.

"Sakura…" I stroked her cheek with my thumb and she seemed to press her face further into my hand.

"Mm? We... shoul'…d'stroy… 'im…" She murmured peacefully. And I looked at her in horror. She was murmuring to me in her sleep about how we should _destroy_ someone. Yeah… remember that part about how I said there was something fundamentally wrong with her as well as me? This was it… Sakura was the only woman I knew who did or said things like that… in her _sleep_, no less…

"Sakura." I repeated and I slid my hand down to her shoulder and gently shook her. I'd need her to let go of me if I wanted to get ready and fucking go already. Her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows furrowed. She did _not_ like that.

"…Wha~at." She groaned, but she still fought to keep herself asleep because seconds later her expression smoothed out. I sighed to myself.

"Wake up." I commanded and shook her again. Really… I had to go.

"No." And she turned her face towards the pillow beneath us both, nuzzling her nose further into my chest.

"Then at least let me go so I can go." I grumbled.

She didn't understand. She looked momentarily confused before she responded.

"Hm~whaa…?"

Then she blinked and slowly, her glazed sight focused on me.

"Sasuke?" She asked.

"Ohayo." I greeted in a grumpy tone while I thought of things that depressed me to make my hard-on disappear. It didn't take long to get rid of it, because I had seen more than just my share of depressing things throughout my life.

"Was that you I was talking to?" She was suddenly awake and fighting to prop herself up on her elbow, but she failed miserably. She had no idea her hand was tangled in my necklace. She pulled me down closer as a result of the force she used to struggle and my cheek collided with hers. I could kiss the corner of her mouth if I wanted to.

"Shit sorry!" She let go of my necklace. I calmly moved my face away and motioned towards her legs.

"_Shit! Sorry!_" She hissed again but this time, to my satisfaction, her cheeks turned pink and she was looking at me in alarm. She moved her leg off of me, and I have to admit, I missed her warmth as I was finally able to move and pop the bones in my shoulders and back.

"Yes, that _was_ me you were talking to earlier. Who did you think you were talking to?" I asked.

"In the dream…"

I waited, watching her, but she shook her head instead. "Nevermind." She wanted to keep it to herself. Fine. I wouldn't push her, but I _would_ taunt her to narrow down the possibilities.

"Oh, I guess you were expecting Yamanaka when you woke up?" I drawled and she shoved me so hard and fast, I actually _fell_ off of the bed. I hissed in a breath as my head hit the edge of the nightstand while I rolled to a standing position on instinct. Thankfully, the pain was enough to rid me of the remainder of my morning wood. I rubbed the back of my skull as I glared at her, anyway.

"_No. _I didn't dream about Suchiru, you_ asshole_. I didn't know who I was dreaming about. I didn't see his face. All I know is we had to go kill some bad guy in the village." She replied, matter-of-factly as she crossed her arms. I shot her a smirk because I got her to talk, regardless. I shrugged, turned around and opened my closet.

"I guess I'll go make breakfast." She tiredly groaned as I picked my clothes for the day. I frowned at the grey shorts and wrist guards, and collared blue tunic in my arms. I turned around.

"Isn't it your day off?" I asked. Why the fuck would she want to get up so early after staying up till 2:30 last night… well, _earlier today_, technically?

"Yeah, so? I can still make us breakfast." She challenged and moved to get out of bed. I was over there in a second, pushing her back down by her shoulders, discarding my clothes on top of the nightstand next to the bed. She glared up at me, but then tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"What's up with you?" She asked suspiciously, and then her eyes flicked to a few places behind me. "Are you hiding something?" She asked in a prickly tone. I rolled my eyes. "Is that why you don't want me to get up?"

"Yes, because at some point last night, Sakura, you _actually_ let me go and I was able to do something sinister behind your back." I sarcastically sniped. She made an offended noise and crossed her arms beneath my weight.

"So what's your deal then?" She glowered.

"Just go back to sleep. You were up late. Do I have to have an ulterior motive to keep you in my bed?" I asked in an aggravated manner without really thinking before I spoke… and then my eyes widened. Fuck. That sounded… not right… the way I said it… I felt my face get hot. A cute blush made its way onto her cheeks too and she looked to the side, at my shoulder, her favorite place to look when something… _new_ was happening between us.

"I think you're the one that needs your sleep." She commented back bravely, recovering rather quickly and insulting me for the verbal mistake I made. I was grateful for her callous response. I shook my head.

"Whatever, just go back to sleep." She shrugged and then yawned into her palm. I let her go once I saw the tears collect in her eyes from the exhausted mannerism. She rubbed her eyes and fell back against the pillows. I picked up my clothes off of the nightstand and moved to my bathroom to get ready. When I was done, I came back into my room, grabbed my katana and three full weapons pouches of kunai and seals that stored more kunai. Today would be Udon's worst nightmare. I turned back to Sakura and noted that she _still_ hadn't gone back to sleep. She was watching me with curious, large green eyes.

"That's a lot of weapons." She commented. "Is there a war going on I don't know about?" She asked casually. Only Sakura would mention a war casually… I smirked.

"No war. I'm just going to be pinpointing Udon's blind spots today." I explained. Her eyes widened in recognition and her mouth formed an "o". She closed her eyes and nodded as she remembered that we had talked about this before at Ichiraku.

"I'll be able to help him, I think. Just bring him by so I can run some tests tomorrow… when I'm at the hospital. It'll be helpful to know where to look during the examination, so finding his blind spots not only benefits you training him, but it benefits me possibly fixing him as well." She explained. Again, I was impressed that she could even heal eyes, but then again, this was Sakura. She was a medical prodigy. She was nothing like the medics I knew of or experienced throughout my life.

Orochimaru and Kabuto had been decent, but she was _amazing_. I had never once witnessed the kinds of jutsu she used throughout my travels. The only other person who mildly surprised me in a medical sense was Karin, but anyone would be surprised if you showed them that if they bit you they'd be healed. I nodded at her as I pulled my hitai-ate off of the nightstand and sat down at the edge of the bed, holding it loosely in my hands and looking at the Konohagakure symbol on the shiny metal. She sat up and looked at me, tilting her head to the side curiously. I slipped the last bit of my gear on, peeking at her from the corner of my eyes as I tied the cloth behind my head; I really liked her hair. Pink was weird, definitely, but I liked it. My hands fell into my lap and I stared at them, tiredly.

"Don't you have to go?" She reminded me.

I chuckled to myself. To be honest, I felt like an old man. I felt like _shit_. I just wanted to sleep. I looked over at her and she clearly didn't get why I was laughing. In all honesty, I was ready to blatantly abuse our situation and spend the rest of the morning with her in bed.

"I'm tired." I eventually responded with a shrug. I couldn't exactly tell her what I was thinking. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

"Make up your mind, already." She grumbled.

I wanted nothing more than to crawl back in next to her and sleep as long as I needed to, of course, but fuck it; I was already up and dressed and I_ had_ energy, I just didn't feel like using it, was what the problem was. I was just being a fucking Shikamaru about it. I shook my head.

"That kid needs to advance before Konohamaru." I smirked and I stood up.

"Aw, how dedicated you are." She drawled sarcastically and laid back down. I took personal offense to that and quickly leapt on top of her, pinning her wrists to the mattress beneath us. She made a cute noise of surprise and stared up at me, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. She didn't fight back, however... interesting…

"What'd you say?" I glowered, but in a half-assed way; I didn't have the energy for a full-blown glare. She smirked, rising to the challenge in my voice.

"I said, 'how _dedicated_ you are'." She repeated, mimicking the same sarcastic tone in a condescending way.

"Those sound like fighting words to me. What are you implying: that I'm not dedicated to a cause?" I asked with a raised brow; really she should know better. Also, it was getting easier to mess around with her. I didn't know if that was dangerous or not. She was letting me into her personal space more and that was frightening to me because I'd have to keep my self-control in check from now on… Regardless, she looked _beautiful_ beneath me. Even though I could tell she was exhausted and haggard and in no mood, she was _still_ beautiful. I _still_ wanted to kiss her.

She giggled, shaking me out of my thoughts, but I felt my face burn anyway. It was weird, _liking_ the idea that I could make her laugh. I still wasn't used to making anyone happy. I was still perplexed and embarrassed at the idea, but it didn't change the fact that I felt elated every time I put a smile on her face. It was like going out for a long, uninhibited run after sitting in a cramped position on a scouting mission for hours on end. It was relaxing and relieving at the same time.

"I think I know better than anyone how dedicated you are to a cause, Sasuke. I'm just surprised you're dedicated to a cause that's not your own." She replied honestly, but in a gentle and soft tone, as if this time she was afraid to offend me with the words she spoke. I smiled down at her; I didn't want her to be afraid to say what was on her mind.

"Things can change." I replied and ran my thumb over her wrist briefly to make a point. I felt satisfied that I saw her pulse pick up by her throat at my touch. My words _did_ have a double meaning and I wondered if she caught onto it. She gave me a contemplative look as I quickly released her and then moved off of her. I wanted her to think that _we_ could change too… we didn't _have_ to stay as 'just friends'. But that was a discussion for a different day… "I'll come find you for lunch. _Ittekimasu._" I called over my shoulder as I began to retreat to the safety of my kitchen before she could ask any more questions.

"_Itterashai_, Sasuke." She murmured back, quietly. I nodded as I gently shut the door behind me and practically glided over to my kitchen. I'm not a liar, so I'll just tell you honestly; that was _bold _of me back there. Sakura, Naruto and I were _all_ really adept at "reading beneath the underneath". It was one of the first few lessons Kakashi taught us. She would think about the way I said those three words. Maybe, _maybe_ and hopefully she wouldn't just write it off as her imagination. I snickered to myself a little as I crossed my apartment floor; maybe she'd go nuts trying to figure out what I meant; that would be comical.

I grabbed an orange from the fridge and skipped my usual morning tea. I didn't want to make any more noise making breakfast than I needed to. I genuinely wanted Sakura to be rested for our spar and training session later today. Speaking of which, I'll probably have to take a short nap sometime during the day to recover. Knowing Udon, that kid will give me a workout even if I don't expect one… I peeled the orange and left, taking slice after slice into my mouth as I walked through the quiet streets towards our training ground. A few shops were open in the markets and several of the shop keepers that knew me and happened to like me waved to me in a quiet greeting. Politely, I nodded back. I ignored the civilians that ignored me. I was familiar with this particular routine. Passing through another residential area, I finished off the last of my orange and eventually leapt off of someone's roof and launched into the thick woods surrounding Konoha.

I took in the fresh scent of forest, rain, and nature. Today, even the birds weren't disturbed by my presence. They chirped away and I respectfully avoided where their nests were, only jumping on the branches that were empty of their precious eggs or offspring. It was going to be a warm day, judging by how prominent the sun's rays were as it began its slow ascent in the sky. That was about the time I landed in the training area, and had a kunai thrown my way that I _quickly_ avoided. It sailed just a hair's width past me and hit the trunk of a tree with a resounding and familiar _thunk!_ I glared at my brown-haired student, who smirked back and shrugged in his white t-shirt and dark blue shorts.

"I wanted to throw one at you before I spent the rest of the day dodging yours." He explained boyishly, ambled over and pulled it out of the tree. He stuck the knife back in his pouch and turned to me.

"You're accurate for a kid who can't see well." I responded. Itachi had the same problem and was the most dangerous shinobi alive. How precise and freakishly talented would Udon be if Sakura could fix his poor, and possibly deteriorating, sight? Udon shrugged.

"The last year or so I've had to adjust to my eyes." He explained. "I didn't have money to waste on a specialist so I just dealt with it." I glared at him. That kind of attitude could have gotten him killed if he didn't make up for it with his skill. I would have to beat that "I don't need any help" attitude out of him somehow as well.

"You better not let me catch you doing something like that again." I smoothly threatened. He knew I could make him run for his life. He paled a little and nodded. I pulled out six kunai and held three in each hand between my fingers. "Now let's see how well you can dodge…"

-X-

It only took me an hour to pinpoint his blind-spots. They were all directly to his left and right, spreading upwards if you could imagine the field of vision I'm talking about. To be blunt, his peripherals were fucked, but he made up for it by checking them _constantly_. In the end he only got nicked once or twice when I double tapped him unexpectedly, which was _good_ for a kid his age with bad eyes. He _still _managed to dodge and make the best of it. It was impressive. Again, where the hell was he these last four years?

"What ninjutsu do you know?" I asked him while we took a minute to catch our breath. I made a clone and ordered it to pick up all of the kunai covering the lush grass around us. We still had time before lunch, which was our unspoken time to finish training. Afterwards, I would usually go off to have lunch with someone, and he'd spend the rest of his day either with his team or practicing on his own. He frowned in response.

"I kind of suck at ninjutsu… Konohamaru's the ninjutsu expert." He shrugged. I glared at him. Saying, "not my department" didn't excuse him from not learning ninjutsu. Didn't he want to be a jounin?

"That doesn't answer my question, kid." I replied. My clone handed me my seals and the kunai that wouldn't fit into the seals and dispelled. Afterwards, I sat on the grass cross-legged and Udon mimicked me.

"Um… I know the kage bunshin, kawarimi, and the shunshin. I haven't bothered with much else." He replied bashfully.

Haven't— haven't _bothered_? What the _fuck_? My expression must have slipped. He tilted his head to the side and looked quite stressed for someone so young.

"What?" He asked in a worried tone, slightly paranoid. He didn't get what my deal was.

"What do you mean, 'what'? How do you just not "_bother"_ with ninjutsu? How could you even say that nonchalantly?" I replied callously, snapping a finger at him.

"I don't know; it's not my thing." He replied with an embarrassed blush on his face. I bit back my sigh.

"So what _is_ your 'thing'?" I asked, making air quotes only because I needed to do _something_ to show my exasperation.

"Genjutsu and sensing…" He replied. "And the basics…"

"What's your sensory range?" I asked.

"The entirety of Konoha and maybe a few kilometers outside of it." He responded confidently. Okay, so he wasn't as good as Karin, but he wasn't as bad as me. I couldn't help him with his sensory capabilities, but I could help him improve his genjutsu and kami-sama help me I'm going to make it so that this kid molds chakra and performs epic ninjutsu. I'll be damned if we don't perfect his weaponry skills on top of it all as well. He'll be _fucked_ on the jounin exam in a month or so if he_ doesn't _learn all this and _soon_. I took a deep breath that an old man would have been proud of. We would have to train more often and train harder. We fixed his taijutsu rather quickly, but genjutsu and ninjutsu would take more effort.

"Fine. I can't help you increase that range, but I can help you with your genjutsu and your ninjutsu." I would also have to, at some point, go to the kage tower and recommend him for the exam in the next week. Suddenly, I had _a lot_ of shit to do. How did Kakashi deal with _three _of us?

"Today we'll start on your genjutsu. Since you say you're already good at it, I doubt it'll take you long to become _deadly _at it. In a few days, depending on how things go with your eyes we'll find out your chakra nature and start on your ninjutsu if Sakura says it's okay." I planned.

"Chakra… nature? Like Konohamaru with his rasengan?" Yes. Like fucking Konohamaru and his rasengan. I prayed to kami-sama Udon didn't have some weird element like water. I didn't feel like bringing in Kakashi to help; he was getting too old for this kind of shit. I nodded in response.

"Sit across from me. I want you to watch my chakra and mimic its flow. The best kind of genjutsu is the kind that blurs and blends in with the battlefield around you." I began.

-X-

At exactly noon, to my unbridled surprise, Udon had actually created a flawless genjutsu. It did not feel or look oppressing. It was light and stealthy like spider-silk. Even the best genjutsu-types would have to look twice to find it. I contemplated on just having him leave it there to see which sorry son of a bitch got caught in it, but I didn't want to catch any political backlash, so I had the kid dispel it before he left. Tomorrow, we would do some light sparring and see Sakura at the hospital before lunch about his eyes.

"Thank you, sensei!" Udon bowed and I waved him off.

"You don't have to bow for every little thing." I grunted as I stood up and dusted grass off of my pants.

The kid grinned at me like he had won a prize.

"All right. Ja-ne!" And he dashed off rather happily, despite how tired and grimy he was. I couldn't blame him; he did _exceptionally _well. Somewhere, I was a little proud of him. It was a selfish kind of pride, though: that was _my_ student, accomplishing awesome shit. I wondered if that's how Kakashi felt during the chunin exams before I left a giant shit-stain on his and everyone else's lives…

Glad that I wasn't too sweaty or disgusting or tired, I decided to find Sakura and have a _huge_ lunch to make up for the tiny breakfast I ate. I set out into the village, wondering if maybe she was with Ino. Thus, Konoha's Mental Health Clinic is where I stopped first. It was relatively easy to see Ino when she was in between clients. I was pretty sure the brunette at the desk only kept me in the office for a good minute so she could look at me. Once inside Ino's office I leaned against her wall. She shot me a wry smirk from her desk as she looked at some files that I couldn't see from where I was standing by the door.

"Not gonna sit, _Uchiha-sama_?" She mocked. I smirked back at her.

"I have a lunch date." I began. "I don't suppose you would be able to tell me if you've seen Sakura around?" I gloated back to her.

Surprise dashed across her face and for a moment, Ino just looked at me, debating if I was lying or not. She calmly placed her file down.

"Like a real date? Like, 'Hn…Sakura, go out with me…'?" She asked, deepening her voice and acting like me for comical effect. I glared at her. Was _that_ how she assumed I would ask Sakura out? Tch. She had a lot to learn if that's the case.

"No more like, 'you owe me lunch for making me take safety precautions, Sasuke.'" I drawled back, waving my hands femininely and sarcastically, but not really having the energy or desire to mock Sakura's voice to the best of my abilities.

"Wait. _What_?" Ino placed her palms flat on her desk and stood out of her office chair. I sighed.

"Have you seen her or not?" I pressed. I didn't have time to waste gossiping with her if she didn't have the information I needed.

"Well, n—

I was out before she could finish. I heard her screaming obscene and quite unprofessional curses at my back, something about being a stupid, mysterious asshole and being about as open as a bank vault. It wasn't far from the truth so I ignored it all and decided to actually run around Konoha, hoping I would sense or see her somewhere. I had two thirds of the village searched before I realized I should have started my search back at my apartment in the first place. I shunshinned there and sure enough, her chakra signature was there… still in my room. It was _noon_. She was _still _in bed!? I unlocked my door, stepped out of my shoes and padded up to my bedroom door in one fluid motion as I called "Tadaima!" out into the apartment. I knocked on my bedroom door without waiting for a response, feeling misplaced knocking on my own bedroom door.

"Sasuke, don't come in!" Sakura finally called back. I heard her shuffling around inside as she spoke.

What? My hand hovered just over the knob. I dropped it.

"Sorry, I didn't think I'd sleep so late! I'm just getting into my clothes! Oh, _okairi_ by the way!"

"Aa. Hand me some clothes. I'll shower in the meantime." Fuck it. I might as well.

"Okay, just turn around." I rolled my eyes. If I wanted to see her naked, I would just seduce her. I turned around anyway. Minutes later, she opened the door and I took the bundle of clothes she offered.

"I hope you like the outfit…" She cooed, her voice dripping sweetness in a suspicious way. And I glowered at the bundle in my hands as she slammed the door shut and locked it behind her.

Red assaulted my vision.

It was the _only_ red tee-shirt I owned. The shorts were white. She _did_ pass me a pair of silk, black boxers, which _would_ keep me cool in the heat. Whatever, I trudged towards the bathroom. It would be weird wearing Sakura's trademark color scheme. I smirked as I thought: Thank kami-sama I don't own anything pink…

I showered quickly, making sure the water was the coldest it could be; it was really hot today. When I started to shiver after I finished washing, I shut the water off, toweled myself dry, noticing how Sakura's red towel was missing from the rack and put on the clothes. I snorted at myself in the mirror. Sakura was in a comical mood today. The red of the shirt deeply contrasted with the black of my hair and eyes. I turned around and saw the Uchiha crest on the back outlined in black. I wondered why I got this shirt? What had possessed me to have a _red_ t-shirt made? I couldn't remember for the life of me. I stepped out and Sakura was waiting for me in front of the bathroom door in that pose where her hip was popped out. I smirked at what she was wearing.

Black and blue.

She was in a dark blue, form-fitting t-shirt and black tactical shorts covered with a white, medical apron. She even went the extra step and _stole_ a pair of my navy wrist guards.

"I'm Sasuke. I'm dark and broody and the ladies _love_ me!" She mocked in a deep voice and messed up the back of her damp hair as she puffed out her chest and straightened her shoulders until her back was rigid. I glared at how hard she started to laugh afterwards.

Tch. Two could play at that game. I tightened the red shirt around my torso until it clung to my skin and then knotted it in place as she watched in fascination. Her green eyes were owlish and wide as I pressed my legs together, which hurt my balls a little, and artistically ran my fingers through my hair. I tried to make my voice as girly as possible as I batted my lashes at her in an over-exaggerated manner.

"I'm Sakura! I'm too smart for my own good and I like to date bartenders!" I made sure to stick out my hip a little for good measure. She looked at me in shock and offense.

"Ugh! Take that _back_ Sasuke! That's_ not_ how I am!" She huffed, crossing her arms, but the authoritative tone was ruined by the embarrassed blush on her cheeks. I smirked at her in victory.

"Your impression of me was equally as inaccurate as mine was of yours." I deadpanned neutrally as I loosened my shirt out of its knot and returned to my regular stance, crossing my arms across my chest. It was a relief to stand with my legs slightly apart again. Being a woman must suck on a daily basis, never mind the fact that they bleed for a week once a month, _kami-sama_.

"But you _are _dark and broody and the ladies _do_ love you!" She argued, pointing a finger at me. I rolled my eyes and cross my arms.

"I'm not dark and broody all the time. You know that." I countered.

"Tch, whatever. Besides, these match so well, don't you think?" She waved her wrists around with a huge grin and the navy wrist-guards flailed around, a bit too big for her small frame. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, they match _impeccably_." I drawled sarcastically. She smacked my shoulder.

"What is your deal?" She popped out her hip in that attitude-y pose again and crossed her arms.

"They're big on you." I replied honestly and shrugged.

She shrugged back and changed the subject.

"I didn't know you had seals stitched to the insides. Will they work with my chakra?" She asked in a curious tone.

"I don't know, good question." We looked at each other curiously, then nodded simultaneously. She poured chakra into the wrist guard, her hand glowing bright green over the navy fabric.

"Shit, you can pour your chakra through all of _this_?" Her eyebrows pinched together as the green glow faded from her hand. I cocked an eyebrow. Well… yeah, couldn't she? "What a _waste_ of chakra…" She tsked to herself more than to me.

Wait… let me get this straight… "The fabric is too thick for your chakra to seep through?" I asked.

"Yeah, how do you pour yours into it like it's no problem?" She asked and held out her wrist. I didn't have to think twice, I knew what she wanted me to do, so I poured a little chakra into the fabric, holding onto her forearm as I did so. A kunai launched out into the palm of her hand half a second later. I didn't even use that much. Her eyes widened.

"That's a _massive_ waste of chakra! Kami-sama how have you even _survived_ this long!?" She exclaimed incredulously, looking up at me in alarm. I tilted my head to the side and shrugged. She shook her head.

"We're fixing that _today_." She commanded and moved towards the door. "But first, breakfast-lunch!" I could tell she was grinning to herself even though I could only see her back. Tch. My colors looked good on her, I had to admit. Leave it to Sakura to be the only woman in history to be able to force me into a game of dress-up. I followed after her to the door.

"Your chakra must be heavier or denser than mine… I wonder if that's a trait of lightning-natured chakra, or fire-natured chakra or a combination of the two…" She murmured half to me, and half to herself as she slid her boots on, staring _through_ my door more than at it as worked. Of _course_, Sakura _would_ start theorizing on the biological differences of chakra from person to person.

"Maybe it has to do with chakra control, instead. Mine might be denser than yours because I don't use it the way you use yours." I theorized back, surprising even myself that I had voiced the thought when it struck me. She gasped as I slid into a pair of black nin-sandals. I didn't even want to _think_ about wearing boots in the heat outside. I was grateful for the cold water dripping down my neck and back from my hair; it was_ brutal_ in the hallway. Unlike the apartments, the hallway wasn't temperature controlled. The apartments were all set to a comfortable seventy-two degrees, year-round.

"Maybe. Maybe the natures have _nothing_ to do with it…" She stepped out of my apartment after me and I locked the door behind us. We began to make our way down the three flights of stairs, then.

"What's your chakra nature?" I asked as we climbed down the stairs, not caring how much noise we made. We sounded like little kids, not like anbu operatives and I don't think either of us really gave a damn. Anyway, I sincerely wanted to know if she had found out her chakra nature. Did she only stick to medical ninjutsu or did she take the time and effort to learn some regular ninjutsu after the war? She would've had to in order to become ANBU right? Unless, she was a tokubetsu ANBU, who only specialized in medical ninjutsu even when on an assassination… She shot a smirk at me and I caught it with the corner of my eye.

"You'll find out at the training grounds today." She smiled dazzlingly, but I knew better. That smile hid dangerous undertones. She didn't want me to know what to expect from her because we would spar first and foremost.

"Tch. Surprise won't help you against me." I changed tactics, trying to pry the information out of her anyway. "You're better off just telling me honestly."

"You're going to have to try a better tactic if you want to find out, Sasuke. But I warn you, I would sooner die than tell you." She replied, calling me out on my bullshit.

"Hn. Too smart for your own good." I repeated and she smiled.

"That's a complement." She countered.

I thought about that…

"Aa."

She didn't respond for a while. I wondered if I said something wrong.

"Where are we eating?" She asked moments later as we stepped out onto the street. I shrugged, forgetting my slight stress at her silence.

"Do you want to pick?" I asked. It was only polite. She shook her head.

"Surprise me." She responded confidently.

I cocked an eyebrow… I could give her a _really_ nasty and _really _spicy surprise, then… She must have read my expression because hers soured.

"No spicy places! Not _that_ kind of a surprise!" She clarified vehemently as she crossed her arms and glared at me. She read _exactly _what was on my mind. I shot her a smirk and motioned for her to follow me. She fell into step with me as I walked towards the street peppered with restaurants at the center of Konoha. We walked in comfortable silence. A lot of people greeted Sakura. She always smiled and greeted them back. Most of the girls she knew were baffled at the "dark colors" she was wearing.

I resisted the urge to smirk and, being reminded of her wearing my colors, I wondered instead if Sakura would have married into the Uchiha clan anyway if nii-san hadn't killed everyone off. Her skills would have been something desirable for the clan. Otou-san _may_ have made a begrudging exception for her. Then I narrowed my eyes, remembering how Sakura _used_ to be. … Would she have obsessed over nii-san instead of over me?

…

….

He _might_ have grown to like her, if you factored in their freakish intelligence... Hn. Shisui would have _loved_ her.

"— Right Sasuke?"

What?

Fuck. She was talking. I missed _everything_.

"Hn?"

"You heard absolutely _none_ of what I just said, huh?" She looked at me disapprovingly and I nodded, admitting defeat easily. I got lost in my train of thought. We came up to Choji's family restaurant. Barbeque was perfect on a hot day like this.

"It wasn't important anyway." She shrugged as we walked inside. I frowned.

"What did you say?" I wanted to know. She said it, so it must have been important right?

"I was just theorizing about Udon's eyes. You wouldn't have been able to answer my question anyway." She shrugged, and then sighed as the comforting AC hit her skin. She wasn't used to wearing dark colors; she must have been _boiling_.

"That's _very_ important. Ask me again when we sit." I responded just as Chiho, a hostess three years our junior with vibrant, violet-red, trademark Uzumaki hair color spotted us from the relatively busy dining area. Anything concerning my student and his eyes was of the _utmost_ importance to me. I turned my eyes to Sakura as Chiho politely, but quickly made her way over past other servers and some customers.

"All right." She responded with a shrug as she noticed me looking at her for a reply.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke-san!" Chiho greeted cheerfully once she reached us at the entrance. She tucked a lock of her wavy, chin-length hair behind her ear and greeted Sakura with bright, plum colored eyes and a matching, sunny grin. "Ah, is this pretty lady your girlfriend?" She smiled and pointed at Sakura as she looked up at me. Sakura looked startled. I felt my cheeks burn as I gave Chiho a look that told her to bite her tongue.

"Why does everyone think that?" Sakura asked curiously. Chiho looked at her owlishly, ignoring my stern look.

"Well, _duh_, you guys look good together!" … … … Chiho's personality was more blatant today than usual... I cringed as Sakura looked a mixture of afraid and embarrassed. "Anyway, are you an Uzumaki too? I haven't seen you at the compound…" Chiho asked as she observed Sakura's pink hair. My eyes snapped to Sakura. _Could _the Haruno be distant _distant_ cousins of the Uzumaki? Pink was technically in the red family and almost _all _Uzumaki had some kind of red hair, aside from Naruto… Naruto is _always_ the exception to _something_.

"No. My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm an old teammate of Sasuke's." Sakura stuck out her hand, politely and confidently, and Chiho grinned and shook it.

"Wow, I feel stupid! It must be the heat! You guys are in the restaurant I work at and I haven't even introduced myself!" Yeah that wasn't the only stupid mistake she made so far…

"My name is Uzumaki Chiho! I hope you can forgive my rudeness, Sakura-chan!" Chiho grinned and Sakura smiled as they let each other go.

"You weren't rude at all, Chiho-chan! I think you're cute! It's a pleasure to meet you! I like your outfit, by the way! It's fashionable!" Wow, Sakura had _way_ more people-skills than I could ever acquire in a lifetime. I was impressed with the way she handled Chiho; the girl quieted and blushed as pink as Sakura's hair at the complement about her outfit. I looked at what the Uzumaki girl was wearing, but I didn't notice much difference between the regular black attire that the other servers wore.

Chiho just wore some frilly black skirt instead of the usual black pants. What was so fashionable about it? Hn. Women and their fucking clothes…

"Wow, thanks! I'm trying to get Akimichi-sama to approve of it as the uniform for the female staff! It gets hot here in the summer! It's _nothing_ like Kusagakure!" Chiho replied.

Sakura chuckled and Chiho didn't miss a beat in steering the conversation back on track, _finally_.

"All right, grumpy-sama your usual table is free so I'll sit you guys there!" She winked at me and without another word Chiho scampered off, Sakura following quickly after, snickering at the nicknames Chiho usually pestered me with. I shook my head and followed after both of them. Chiho had somehow produced two menus on her way to my usual booth in the far corner of the restaurant. Yes, I always sat in a corner at public places; it was my thing. Café's, restaurants, wherever; I liked corner tables. I was the most dangerous when I had a window or a wall next to me and an opponent in front. Also, corner tables were the least noticed. If I needed to make a stealthy exit, and blend with the shadows, I could. We sat down and she ignited the barbeque at the center of the table.

"_Aaaaaaaaaaall _right! What can I get you guys to drink?" Chiho asked with her trademark smile. Sakura seemed at ease with her. For some reason, that settled my nerves.

"Do you have iced green tea?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Yes! We have just about everything and iced green tea is one of the most popular drinks on the menu, Sakura-chan! Good choice! Do you want it sweetened or not?" Chiho asked sweetly in response.

"Sweetened please." Sakura smiled.

"All right, now you, Red-san. Your usual?" She asked me.

I glared at Chiho for the "red" comment. She had an eye for detail. She knew red wasn't my usual color. She stuck her tongue out at me in response.

"I'll have my usual green tea iced today, but with no sugar." I replied stoically.

"Extra sugar, got it!" She joked. I rolled my eyes and Sakura giggled. "I'll be right back! If I find you guys kissing it's an extra twenty-gold surcharge!" She winked at Sakura who blushed in alarm and surprise and disappeared.

"Seriously. Why do people think that?" Sakura grumbled.

"What were you asking me about Udon's eyes?" I changed the topic of conversation. Sakura's confused expression turned into a smile.

"I was asking you about his blind-spots and where they were. I mean, I'll find out tomorrow anyway, but it's just good to have a heads up. Are the blind areas actually spots or are they more like walls? He told you what it's like, right?" She repeated her previous question.

"His peripherals are fucked, to put it lightly. He compensates for them by checking them frequently. But if you look straight ahead, his two and ten o'clock are gone from top to bottom. He says it's like seeing a wall of fuzzy black." I replied.

"I see… and he wears glasses on a daily basis… I wonder if it's because of the deterioration or because his eye _shape_ had disfigured from the strain of compensation…" Sakura wondered to herself. "I'll find out tomorrow. What's the earliest you can bring him by?" She asked, a concerned and thoughtful expression on her face.

"What's the earliest you can see him?" I didn't want to pop in right before or after she had a major surgery to do.

"Hmmm… Eight would be best. I have a whole hour to just check up on patients, but I can have an intern do that. From six to seven-thirty I'm going to be operating on a genin." She explained. That left us little time to warm up and train, but that might be for the best anyway.

"We'll be there at eight, then." I agreed. And just as I finished speaking Chiho skipped up and placed our teas on the table.

"So, should I give you guys some time, or have you decided? Do you want to start off with appetizers?" Chiho asked.

"Um…"Sakura looked at me and I nodded.

"Give us some time." I spoke up to Chiho, who grinned.

"O-kay! Oh, by the way, have you decided whether or not you're going to marry into the clan yet?" She asked me as an after-thought and I saw Sakura hold back a choke; her green tea went down the wrong pipe, but Chiho didn't notice. Sakura held her breath so she wouldn't start coughing in front of the Uzumaki girl. I saw her eyes water as she held the bodily action back. I glared at Chiho. That's _not_ a question you just _ask_, damn it…

"I'm not going to marry into the Uzumaki, that's a _ridiculous _notion. I already said _no_." I responded.

"Aw! But Tadashi-sama would be so happy!" She pouted more to herself. "When did you say no?" She frowned.

"_Half a year ago_." I glowered. She should have known this already.

She giggled to herself and shrugged. "Oh well, I guess that's why Karin-nee-chan seemed so happy lately!"

I sighed. Couldn't she just go away? Did she _have_ to bring up my personal business in front of Sakura?

"Anyway, I have a few tables to check up on so I'll be back in ten minutes! Make sure you guys have a decision by then, ne?" She cutely smiled, waved and then left. Sakura finally coughed.

"And Naruto— *cough*— didn't somehow –*cough*- convince you?" She asked finally, regaining her composure.

"Convince me to what?" I glowered. I was still grouchy from Chiho annoying me.

"_Marry into his clan_." Her response sounded like she wanted to put a "duh" or a "stupid" at the end of it. I smirked… Oh, the dobe had _tried_, certainly. It was like his dream-come-true. We'd be _actual_ brothers, then.

"Oh, he _tried_. Unsuccessfully." I replied, remembering the pictures of naked redheads he would fucking leave _all over my damned apartment_. Don't get me wrong, they were tempting, but Tadashi, the Uzumaki clan head wanted _me_ to take on _his_ clan name… thus the Sharingan would become an Uzumaki thing. Or my children would be born with the Rinnegan instead. Either way the Uchiha name would die and I had too much pride to agree to that so I told him "no". He was lucky I hadn't lost my temper and told him to fuck off instead.

Sakura shook her head.

"You can stop there; I don't think I want to know the stunts he pulled before I have to eat." Sakura explained, holding her hand up. I snickered. She was impressively perceptive.

"Good choice." I responded, but she _did_ smirk at me because of course she wouldn't let me get away that easily.

"But it _will_ make for a great bedtime story… I'm holding you to it." I rolled my eyes. _Of course_ she would want to grill me about Naruto's antics. I changed the subject.

"Sure whatever. Did you tell Tsunade about Yamanaka?"

She sighed and glared at me.

"Kami-sama, _don't_ remind me. She almost punched me through a wall." Sakura visibly shuddered.

"Hn. Then _that_ will be _my_ bedtime story tonight… I'm 'holding you to it'…" I drawled back confidently, making air quotes with my fingers to emphasize the fact that I was mocking her. This time Sakura rolled her eyes and changed the subject.

"Can we have chicken?" She asked. "And fish?"

"Why not beef?" It was good once in a while. She tsked in annoyance.

"If you want all that protein just go give Naruto a blow job; I'm sure he won't mind." She replied in an annoyed tone. I gaped at her. My brain practically stopped. She must have spent too much time around Sai… definitely.

"You've spent too much time around Sai." I replied, narrowing my eyes at her.

"No, I haven't spent much time around Sai at all, actually. You're just not used to me." She replied smugly. "After all… 'things can change'… ne?" And she even threw my cryptic words from this morning back at me. I must have driven her crazy with the multiple meanings of those words if she waited so patiently to throw them back in my face. I was stunned. She looked up at me from her menu and smirked. My shock must have been plain to see on my face.

"Were you expecting me to bat my eye lashes and ask you nicely?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. I frowned. I guess… I wouldn't have deserved her asking me nicely anyway… I reached over and poked the red diamond on her forehead, _hard_. It was all I could do to defend myself. She stuck her tongue out at me in response as I retracted my hand.

"We'll get a little bit of everything." I then compromised and she nodded.

"If it's not too expensive…" She mumbled, and I realized that she was _really _meticulous about her finances. It didn't surprise me, however. Sakura's scores in mathematics way back during the academy were higher than mine. If she hadn't been a Kunoichi she could have become fire country's top fucking financial analyst or the daimyo's personal accountant.

"They have a combination thing here somewhere." I shrugged. Oppositely, money was of no importance to me. Though… maybe it would be wise to invest in something somewhere down the road, just in case… "Just pick the sides you want." For now it didn't matter. I had more money than I could spend in three lifetimes, let alone one.

She gave me a concerned look.

"Sasuke…" She spoke with a frown in her tone. "I don't get how you can burn through your money like it's 'whatever'…" Notice how she wasn't lecturing me? She didn't say, "You _shouldn't_ burn through your money like this," meaning that she wasn't involving herself in my business. It kind of pissed me off that she _didn't_ choose to argue with me about finances because if she _did_, then she would be looking at us as a _unit _in a way. It was another sign that she wasn't planning to stick around much beyond the end of this week. She wasn't looking at our situation the way I was and that pissed me off. Couldn't she see there were possibilities between us? Or have I been such a dick in the past that she would think it crazy to think that way? Regardless, I wasn't just going to let her run off after she got her lock fixed. I have to do _something_. I only had two days left. Actually, the locksmiths should be coming by to install the new lock the day after tomorrow… so I had until then to make a move… to do _something_. I _really _didn't want her to just disappear on a mission for another six months…

Subconsciously, I tightened my grip on the menu in my hands… I wasn't an idiot. Sakura is a _shinobi_; A scarred, reality-hardened _shinobi_. I could _see_ the hesitancy in her eyes and in her actions every time we did something that hit too close to her heart. She guarded herself adamantly anytime I got _too_ close. I would have to move faster; hit harder in a figurative sense. Starting today.

"Money doesn't matter to me. I have more than enough to buy a lot of land with and then have plenty left over. It's why the usually quiet princesses' jump at any opportunity they can get." I replied, smirking back. She shook her head and chose not to comment. Instead, she turned her eyes on her menu and started looking at the sides that the Akimichi Barbeque House had to offer.

Nii-san… if you're watching… just… have my back on this one…

"After this I need to sleep." I spoke up, an idea striking me. Kill _two _birds with one shuriken…

"What?" She looked up from her menu, confused.

"I'm going to go home and take a nap after this." I repeated, looking her directly in the eyes. "I want to be fully charged if I'm going to spar with you." I explained. She gave me a smug, confident smirk that turned me on.

"O~oh, have I suddenly become so threatening, Sasuk_e_?" She cooed venomously. I gave her a small smile. Yes, actually, she _was_ threatening. I knew she was strong. If she gave me a challenge I wouldn't be surprised.

"I'm not _stupid. _Did you expect me to treat you like you're weak?" I replied, raising an eyebrow to emphasize my point.

"I don't know, you used to do that a great deal…" She said while "casually" inspecting her nails. I see. She was looking for an apology. I wasn't going to give her one.

"And what did I say this morning about change?" I replied coolly. I was going to get it through her thick skull that I wanted her to look at me differently. She shot me a wry smile filled with determination.

"You better sleep like the dead, Uchiha Sasuke, because you're going to need every minute of rest and every drop of chakra when you face me. I'm going to serve you _hell_ for dessert." She threatened in a dangerous whisper and I noticed that our faces had moved closer over the table. I could feel the heat rising and beating against the bottom of my chin and neck from the barbeque in the center of the table. I studied her face, not even realizing that I had activated my sharingan. She was completely serious. Her jade eyes looked sharp and dangerous. I smirked back at her. I liked her like this.

"I'm looking forward to it." I replied coolly and she leaned back against the booth with a bright smile.

"Good." She went back to her menu as I leaned back as well, heart thudding a little faster. I wasn't lying. I _was_ looking forward to fighting her. I wanted to see how strong she had become. Some _smug_, perverse voice in the back of my mind was telling me I wanted to roll around on the ground with her again more so than I wanted to see what had become of her strength, but I pushed it aside. I genuinely wanted to discover the kind of _shinobi_ Sakura had become. I wanted to see how her strength and her intelligence matched up against my sharingan; I wanted to see what jutsu she could use and if she had created any of her own. Kakashi had mentioned long, _long_ ago that she was a genjutsu-type. Would I be able to trap her mind, or would I have a harder time with her than most people? I was _excited_. I wanted to learn more about her.

Chiho returned right after my eyes bled back to black.

"All _riiiight_! You guys ready?" She grinned, pad and pen in hand. I ordered the combination meat set and Sakura ordered her sides; rice and vegetables, as expected. I ordered my sides next: rice and dumplings, because I would need the extra carbs to burn during our spar. Chiho grinned at us, took our menus and promised to be back in a few minutes to check up on us. She skipped away and I sat with my chin rested on my intertwined fingers. I was _itching_ to eat already so I could go home, sleep, and fight Sakura…

-X-

The rest of the lunch was a comfortably silent affair. I focused on shoving as much food into my stomach as possible. Even Chiho was surprised at the amount I ordered. Sakura, rising to the challenge, had eaten extra as well, seeing through what I was planning. She knew I relied on speed. What kept your stamina up when you had to shunshin a million times? CARBOHYDRATES. It was easy for her to figure out. So to rile me further, she ordered extra rice and a plate of noodles. After an hour and a half, I paid for the food, tipped Chiho and we left. The walk back home was tense, but I was exhausted and I needed at least a two-hour nap.

"Shit… are you sure you don't have an extra stomach somewhere in there?" Sakura asked and I noticed her frown as she hovered a hand over her abdomen. I snorted. She over-ate after making herself compete with me.

"I only have one." I assured her confidently.

"'Doesn't seem like it…" She mumbled and then yawned.

"Tired?" I asked. If she napped with me it worked for me in the end. She shrugged.

"I shouldn't be; I _just_ woke up! I probably just ate too much. Over-eating can make you lazy and sleepy. I feel like my stomach is out to here." She made an over-exaggerated, round hand motion in front of her stomach.

"Aa, I'm surprised you didn't gain twenty pounds." I poked fun at her and she hit my shoulder in revenge.

"Fuck you." She grumbled.

"Anytime." I smirked. Her cheeks turned red.

"Not like _that_! Kami-sama you've been spending too much time around Kakashi-sensei! Ero-Uchiha!" She insulted. I chuckled.

"You told me that you're a pervert." I countered, because she _did_ back at Hofuku. I saw her face turn redder. "Why does that comeback bother you, if you _are_ a pervert, like you said?" I asked boldly. I noticed that some villagers in passing glanced at my usage of the word "pervert" and suddenly I felt Sakura's hand clamp over my mouth as she pushed me against a wall of some sturdy, stone building. A couple of people looked at us as they passed, but they were probably used to shinobi being rough with each other so we were easily ignored despite the bright red of my shirt.

"_Kami-sama_, Sasuk_e! _You're louder than Naruto, you know!?" Her cheeks were pink and her expression was dejected. Our noses were not far from each other and I felt masculine being taller than her; it made me feel confident that she had to look up to talk to me. Really… it won't be long before I give out if we keep touching so casually. I moved my head side to side and forced her hand to slide off of my lips. She stood in front of me, cross-armed and glaring.

"You didn't answer my question." I reminded with a smirk. She gaped at me incredulously, surprised that her distraction didn't work. I wasn't letting this one go. I was going to embarrass her until she realized that I could _still_ make her squirm!

"It doesn't bother me." She replied, her expression a myriad of complicated emotions. Suddenly, she closed her expression off and I found myself unhappy. The mood changed.

"You should stop implying stupid shit, though, it's really not funny. You're not as sexy as you think." She smirked, but it was fake. The teasing expression didn't reach her eyes. I shrugged, not knowing what else to do about it. We continued walking towards our apartment.

"Hm." I responded. She was completely, _completely_ shutting me out. We walked in mostly silence as I brainstormed how to come back at her. I'm not as sexy as _I _think? That wasn't true. Was she joking? She was making it out to be a joke, but I still felt offended.

Several tense minutes later, she laughed. I looked over at her.

"Aw, poor Sasuke. Someone tells you you're not sexy and suddenly you brood like a sixteen-year-old again." She chuckled.

My cheeks heated up. I was _not_ brooding. I was _calculating_!

"You _do_ think I'm sexy, though…" I smirked back, playfully.

She sighed.

"Would it make you feel better if I said yes?" I could _feel_ the eye-roll in her tone.

"I just want honesty, Sakura. I'm not out for a false sense of security." I shrugged.

She laughed again.

"Don't be dumb. Of course you're sexy. Why else would ninety percent of fire country's female population be so wet for you?" She mentioned quietly.

"Money. You'd be surprised what women would get wet for." I huffed in response.

Sakura scrunched her nose.

"Like those girls that date men twenty years their senior?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Bleh. Twenty years is too much." She commented. I nodded.

"What's the cut-off line?" I asked, curious as to how old she'd go.

She thought about that for a minute, staring ahead, calculating something I couldn't see.

"Thirty-three." She replied.

We were both twenty one. _Really? _I looked at her incredulously. She stuck her tongue out.

"I'm kidding." She assuaged. I frowned.

"So answer honestly." I pressed.

"I don't know." She shrugged.

Accidentally, because I was at ease around her, I blurted the next thing that hit my thoughts.

"I heard that your dick stops working at forty, apparently." Fuck. I probably shouldn't have said that.

She snorted.

"Then I guess you've never been to a brothel on a mission…" She responded.

…I _have _been to a brothel. But I wasn't forty. I was fucking fifteen. Neither was I there on a mission. Though the guy I kicked that night might've been forty… I guess if he could get it up being as old, fat, and unhealthy as he was, I wasn't one to assume things. I didn't want her to know about that night, if at all possible. I changed the subject. I didn't want to think about brothels and that girl I left behind. I was afraid of what had become of her. I left her there. Even though I had no choice it still fucked with my conscience knowing I had left a girl in a place where she would be forced to have sex whether she wanted to or not nearly every night. I shuddered. Was it selfish and cold to be thankful that nothing like that had befallen Sakura? Suddenly, I found myself speaking again… a kind of _wanted_ to _maybe_ talk about it with her.

"I kicked a guy in front of a brothel once." I mentioned.

"Oh?" She queried, interest piqued.

"He might've been forty, I don't know." I shrugged.

"How old were you?"

"Young. Fifteen?" I replied, cheeks heating up.

She laughed. "When you're that young you think thirty is old. Look at Kakashi-sensei. He's thirty-three and he's only just starting to settle down." She shrugged.

"It's odd that he's settling down at all." I commented, because it was true. Sakura giggled.

"Why, because he reads porn in broad daylight?"

I smirked.

"Exactly. He doesn't seem like the type." I replied.

"Sensei's been through a lot…" She spoke, and she was right. If I had lost everyone I'd ever loved, opened myself up to a bunch of kids only to have one of them leave and the other two suffer, then had to find out that my best friend was a psychopathic killer who I had to mercy-kill at the end of a war I'd probably hide in a cave somewhere and not speak to people anymore. Kakashi was one hell of a man for returning to some sort of normalcy after that kind of trauma...

"Hn." I agreed.

The silence was comfortable as we made it to our complex and up the three flights of steps. I caught Sakura holding back a yawn. Her eyes filled with tears and if she wasn't smiling to herself about something I would have thought she became depressed and started to cry during our walk.

"You can nap with me, you know." I coaxed nonchalantly.

I'll get fat if I nap after a meal like that." She snidely joked. I could tell it was a small, but friendly jab at Ino. I smirked.

"Trust me you'll need your rest too." I promised.

I won't go easy on you Sakura, you might want to take the opportunity to rest up.

She yawned again. "Sure, whatever." She agreed.

_Good_.

I opened my door and we both stepped out of our shoes as I shut and locked it behind us. Lazily, she stretched and walked over to my room, dumping herself on my bed seconds before I fell in next to her. Again, I pulled her to me and noticed her stiffen minutely before she relaxed against me. I'd be damned if I let her leave at the end of this week without changing her mind about me and us what _could_ be between us.

"Rest up, Uchiha, you're going to need it." She drawled quietly adding a yawn at the end of her sentence.

"Mm. You too." I whispered against her ear and smirked at the goose-bumps that arose on her skin. _Just_ to screw with her I let my lips brush against her exposed neck as I retreated back to the comfort of my pillow. She didn't say anything more. She was asleep in seconds.

I smirked into her hair as I closed my eyes. No more holding back. I wasn't going to let her be immune to me anymore…

Brace yourself Sakura. You have no idea what you have coming your way…

-X-

OH SHIT. When Sasuke gets into Naruto's "I will not give up" mode, shit gets _real_. I wanted this chapter to be mostly about Sasuke's decision to pursue Sakura harder and his growing friendship with Udon. I wanted to show his personality softening towards Udon in a very Sasuke-ish way. I hoped you guys liked it. I'm amazed that I got this far after such a horrible start! I actually _really _liked Chiho in this chapter. I created her literally on a whim, but I fell in love with her personality. She's the cute bubbly genuinely charismatic girl I wish I wholeheartedly was. I'm too calculating to be genuinely cheerful like that, unfortunately.

Anyway

**WARNING SPOILER ALERT WITHIN THIS PARAGRAPH!**

Yo. Okay seriously. My 'hood is coming out. Who else is pissed off at Sasuke's _douchey_ attitude towards both Sakura and Kakashi? I'm about to slap him so hard the rings are gonna fall off of his rinnegan! What an _asshole_, seriously! This brings me to my next point. I'm _so_ aggravated with Kishimoto's writing at this point that I'm going to start shipping Sakura and Sai together. Sai is the _only one _who notices Sakura's pain; her fake smile— which makes me contemplate on whether or not I should write a slammin' SaiSaku fic after I'm done writing this one! I've poked around and to my misfortune I haven't found any really good ones. Especially not any with enough Sasuke/Sai drama in it. Like legit I'm so mad right now I'm ready to stop shipping SasuSaku because Sakura is a good character and deserves better than the attitude Sasuke is giving her. It's like Kishi is snickering to himself at his desk in Japan, muttering, "Yes… this will _definitely _piss of 01Trycia-chan01… muahahahahaha!" Really. I'm done with the bullshit. Either Sakura has to stand up for herself and tell Sasuke the _fuck_ off, or Sasuke has to apologize for being a dick. If neither of those happen and it keeps going this way I'm going to _seriously_ turn to some forbidden fandoms.

**OKAY SPOILER OVER EVERYONE IS FREE TO READ THE NEXT NOTE!**

I think I'll start another fic soon. One of those shit-happens-and-I-woke-up-in-Naruto-Land self-inserts. I could make something like that _really_ funny! What do you guys think? Would you be willing to read something like that or would you rather me write something else? If something else, then what? Let me know!

As always, please review even if it's anonymous. It helps me a lot to know your opinions and I appreciate and love every single one of them!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ™

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	21. Steam

KISEKI

|21|

ALL RIGHT! I got my Jasmine tea, my ugly duck clip in my hair, my pajamas, no make-up, an entire free day, and my fluffy kitty sleeping at the edge of my bed. I am SO ready to write this! I hope you guys enjoy!

Also! I have some EPIC Sasuke badassery planned for the future of this fic! MY DEAR GOD I can't wait to write it already! Sasuke and his fucking "cool" factor. *Shakes head* It's what makes him such a sexy character once he's been redeemed of Kishimoto's sub-par writing. Yes. You heard me. I said it. I _went there_, all right! *******MILD SPOILER ALERT AHEAD! *******I'm getting tired of the shitty portrayal of his characters. He ruined Sakura and Ino and pretty much all the girls except Temari and Hinata (you can't really have an opinion of Tenten because she has like zero lines) and now he's slowly ruining Sasuke. Tsk tsk tsk… This writer is unhappy.

-X-

_His arms wrapped around my waist and his hands rested gently atop my full stomach. The baby was almost here… I didn't know who the man holding me from behind was, but I felt warm and safe with him. I was washing dishes and sunlight filtered in through the foreign kitchen I was in. He murmured something unintelligible to me, but in my mind, I knew what he was saying. _

_He had to go out to the battle and fight. He had rested long enough. I dried my hands as the water ran and hugged him back, still facing the sink. I felt a deep and profound sadness… _

"_I'm going too…" Because even pregnant I can _still_ kick ass. _

_One of his hands reached up to caress my face. I turned my head and we kissed. It was a sad kiss. I knew he was telling me to stay. I couldn't fight, not if it was going to put his child in jeopardy. …That's right… it's not just my child… it's his too. _

"_But we have to destroy him…" I weakly argued anyway. The enemy was still out there and was still dangerous. _

_I couldn't see his face but I knew he loved me. He loved me enough to convince me to stay._

And that's about where I woke up for the second time today, next to Sasuke, who was still sleeping peacefully behind me. His warm, soft breaths fanned my neck and I could feel his heart beating steadily against my back. I realized that _Sasuke_ was the reason for that same dream rearing its ugly head the second time today… his hands were on my _thankfully_ flat stomach. Stupid Sasuke. I did _not_ want to have that dream again… It actually _scared_ me to think about being pregnant. I hated recurring dreams, especially ones in which I'm useless…

I turned around stealthily, barely causing the sheets to make any noise. Sasuke was in the REM stages of his sleep cycle. His eyes fluttered beneath his lids, moving and deciphering things in his dreams. Subconsciously, his arms tightened around me as his face remained peaceful. I gently lifted my head over his shoulder to peek at the clock on his nightstand. We had only been asleep for an hour and a half. I didn't want to disturb him when I knew he needed his sleep, so I settled back down and studied him, instead. It was a terrible idea because nothing good ever came from looking at Uchiha Sasuke, but whatever. I reached up and poked his cheek to make sure he wouldn't wake up. He was dead asleep and obviously did not find me to be a threat, otherwise he would've been up and at my throat in an instant; all anbu were like that.

Unfortunately for the female population, even _with_ a shirt on, he was still heart-breakingly beautiful. His eyelashes were thicker and blacker than mine could ever dream of being even _with_ the help of mascara and his nose was perfectly straight; which was something I found most men weren't gifted with. Abstract noses were unfortunately a dominant gene and Sasuke was extremely lucky to not have inherited one. Looking at him, however, he was full of dominant genes. His hair and eyes were dark. Impossibly dark. For some reason genetics _loved_ dark pigmentation. His skin was relatively light but you could tell that he wouldn't burn in the sun like Sai would; another dominant gene. He was tall… taller than Naruto, come to think of it, but not necessarily wide. He wasn't _large_. He was built for speed, and had enough muscle to _just_ make it out of the "lanky" range. I began to notice the little things about him— the way his collarbones were well-defined, the width and shape of his shoulders, the few navy strands of hair I could pick out from the inky blackness of the rest of it, the length and shape of his jaw, the small, but masculine adam's apple on his throat…

I wondered if my letter had reached Gaara yet as my discomforting thoughts plagued my mind. I wrote to him and sent the hawk with the scroll to Suna before my date with Suchiru. I didn't directly tell him to hurry up with all of his incredible changes to Suna and I didn't rush him about the situation with his hospital; I just told him Konoha was getting a little hard to handle. It was easy to write to Gaara. He understood how lonely I could get sometimes.

I felt Sasuke's hand slide under my shirt and stifled my responding gasp. His calloused fingers brushed against the skin of my lower-back. I bit my lip as that fire ignited in my body again. If I were to be honest, it wasn't Konoha that was hard to handle… it was Uchiha Sasuke. My heart hammered wildly in my chest. It was _too_ easy for him to do that to me! Even _asleep_ he's able to arouse me; it just isn't fair! Quietly, as if afraid to disturb something sacred, I reached up and ran a hand through his hair. I had never touched Sasuke's hair before. Never. If I managed to squeeze a mission to Suna out of shishio by the end of this week I wouldn't be seeing him or anyone else I knew too personally for quite some time.

I wanted to know what his hair felt like to satisfy my curiosity before I left. It was thick and straight and soft. He tilted his head upwards as my fingers brushed his scalp, his body wanting more of the gentle caress in his sleep. He looked innocent, just reaching out for comfort like that in his sleep. I realized then that even Sasuke was undeniably human, despite his ethereal good looks and monstrous power. We— humans— all sought comfort of some sort; even Sasuke, who would never admit to needing warmth and security.

I dropped my hand and curled it into my chest along with the other one. I didn't know how to handle him… how to simply just "be" around him. It felt strange being his friend after loving him for so long and letting go of that love. It felt so strange that I didn't know what was "normal" for friends anymore. Was it _normal_ for friends to hold each other… in bed? I kept trying to convince myself that it was. I spent countless nights on missions cuddling with Naruto, sometimes Sai and on the rare occasion even Kakashi-sensei. Aside from the incident with Naruto, everything stayed platonic; those scenarios were understood as platonic between both parties.

But then again, none of them have ever _touched _me in their sleep; not the way Sasuke touches me... I had never woken up so entangled with a friend the way I'm entangled with him every morning. I had never found any "friend's" hands on my stomach and I had never found my legs intertwined with anyone else's unless I was escaping some man's room the morning after a passionate night.

What Sasuke and I were _doing_ was probably more on the scale of what couples do…no? Only after a night of heart-pounding sex did I ever wake up encased in a man the way I woke up next to Sasuke every morning. Sometimes I didn't even wake up that way next to the one-time-only guys! Most guys I slept away from if I ever had to… If anything, this is how _Akio_ and I used to wake up… But that sort of thing never happened between Sasuke and I. Ever. We had never kissed. We had never even _hugged_ aside from maybe last night when I hugged him, which by the way, I vaguely remember him hugging me back. We never had a relationship or anything special to warrant such behavior. With a frown I realized that I was confused. Nothing was clear between us. Nothing. Not a single, damned thing. It's not fair.

Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes fluttered open. We stared at each other. His hand was still up my shirt. I was still wide-eyed from the surprise of him waking up so suddenly. Is that me, or… is he… kind of _blushing_? He did not remove his hand from where it was beneath my shirt. What in the _fuck_ is going on? I felt like I've been under a genjutsu this entire last week. One minute all these little gestures that I notice mean something more and the next it turns out it's all just in my head, but then he does something else to make me question us. What the _fuck_?

"How long have you been awake?" He asked in his sleepy voice that immediately diffused the anger I was beginning to feel. I just couldn't be mad at him when he sounded like that… I shrugged in response to him and decided that I'm going to kick his ass up and down the block. I'm going to mess him up for confusing me and for making me question my thoughts and emotions about him; not here, but on the training field.

"Long enough. Catch enough beauty sleep, _your majesty_?" I taunted with a renewed spirit. He smirked.

"Enough to defeat you with." He responded, released me, turned onto his back and stretched. I sat up, stretching in my own way, almost glad to be out of his hands..._ almost_… after all, some part of me still selfishly wanted him to just touch me… _everywhere_.

"Careful, I might make you eat those words…" I deadpaned as I climbed off of his bed and started to walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Once at my destination, I left the bathroom door open and he joined me soon after I had ran the water and stuck the annoyingly pink little brush in my mouth. The mint of the paste felt good on my tongue and teeth and I smiled at myself in the mirror as I moved over to make room for him. Soon enough we were both brushing our teeth side-by-side as if it were a common routine. I realized that Sasuke was using his left hand to brush his teeth. He had bumped my right elbow with his and the toothbrush scraped my gums as a result ad he didn't seem to realize what he'd done. My eyes slid over to him dangerously… He did _not_ just _left-handedly_ interrupt my brushing and make me scrape my gums…

I reached over with my free hand and poked him in his ribs, right in the spot I discovered he was ticklish in the other night. He guarded the small assault well, however. Afterwards, he narrowed his eyes and awkwardly reached over with his right arm to try to tickle me back. 'Sucks for him because I'm better at dodging than he is. He missed maybe three times as I leisurely continued brushing, looking at myself in the mirror as I effortlessly wiggled away from his attacks.

Eventually he got aggravated enough to the point where he let go of his toothbrush, let it hang from his mouth, and attacked me with both hands. I screamed, not expecting that, and choked on toothpaste as he assaulted my rib cage, trapping me in between himself and the sink. Angrily, I spat my toothbrush and all the toothpaste out into the sink and coughed and laughed over the sound of the water running. Shit! I jerked around so much that my hair got caught in the stream from the faucet. But I smirked, because I realized I had a weapon to use against him. As I stood there, bent over and gasping for breath, as Sasuke silently and ruthlessly tickled me with his damned blue brush hanging out of his mouth, I reached over, filled my hand with a good amount of water and flung it over my shoulder at his face.

Not expecting it— because I was already flailing around and trying to push him away and make it hard for him to see— he gasped and then _he_ was the one choking on the toothpaste in his mouth. Hah! He bent over, coughed and spat the rest of the toothpaste into the sink as I dodged him and the paste flying out of his mouth, still halfway trapped under one of his arms. Smirking at his moment of weakness, I quickly took the opportunity to press his head further into the sink.

"_Sakura!_" He warned and then glared at me with one eye open as the water ran into his sharingan and our collective toothbrushes entangled in his hair. Oh he was _pissed_ now! I held him under using my chakra for about three seconds, laughing manically as I was sure his nose was filling up with water by the way he was trying not to breathe through it. He tried to push himself away from the sink, but my one chakra-infused hand on the back of his head was enough to keep him glued into the bowl of the sink. If he were less distracted he would've done the smart thing and jostled _me_ instead of keeping his grip on the sink. Oh well…

Letting him go… was like letting go of an angry cat. He _pounced _as I broke free of his arm and turned to run, the rest of the toothpaste in my mouth be damned! I shrieked out of instinct as I felt his fingers brush against the back of my shirt. That was _close!_ He almost had me!I didn't dare look behind me as I escaped the bathroom and lunged over the entirety of his leather couch, grabbing a blue and white pillow for defense, if need be. I turned around once my feet hit the carpeted floor of his living room. Sasuke was glowering at me from the other end of his couch. His knees were slightly bent and his arms were slightly out to his sides. Shit. No matter what I did not he would counter it the best way because of his eyes.

I snickered at the water still dripping from the side of his face and head. There was toothpaste on his soggy bangs. In response, he gave me this narrow-eyed, evil smirk, like a cat closing in on its prey. I certainly _felt_ like a mouse… Sasuke had the power to do that to people… I assumed he had learned that from Orochimaru.

"You think this is _funny_, Sa-ku-ra?" He responded in a smug and threatening way. I sensed his chakra behind me a little too late; I was too focused on keeping my snickers under control as he spoke! I screamed as the Sasuke on the other end of the couch poofed out of existence and the _real_ Sasuke _behind me_ tackled me onto the couch. I managed to twist over and hit him across the face with the pillow before my back collided with the couch. He winded me as he crashed on top of me, pinning my one wrist above my head to the arm of the couch as I repeatedly _decked_ him over and over with the pillow in my hand. He ignored the assault on his skull and started to mercilessly tickle my ribs. My strained laughs eventually turned into gasps and my eyes watered as I begged him to stop.

"S-Sasuke! S-StooooooP!" I wheezed in between laughs and couldn't help but gasp for air. I felt like I was going to asphyxiate! Despite what you may think, his fingers were gentle against my skin, but unfortunately, that was part of what tickled me so much. I abandoned my pillow because it was useless and moved to grab his wrist. With a little chakra I was able to _finally _keep him at bay and catch my breath as my laughter calmed.

"That's not fair." He drawled in regards to my chakra-enhanced strength. I could see the tomoe of his sharingan spinning lazily as he flicked his eyes from my wrist, to his wrist and then to my face.

"It's not fair that you kept tickling me!" I countered back, astounded, shaking the wrist of his that I held for emphasis. He glared at me.

"You started it!" He exclaimed and I had to laugh because despite how frustrated he looked, there was _still_ toothpaste in his hair! Half of his head was matted down with water and most of his hair was messed up from my pillow-assault. For the first time in my life I'm _actually_ seeing the one and only Uchiha Sasuke look _messy_. I never thought he could look idiotic but right now, he _did_. It was surprising because I had seen him go through an entire war without getting a single hair out of place and here he was covered in toothpaste and water looking like a tornado had gotten fed up with him and spat him out after a good ride.

"No I didn't, _you_ did!" My argument was weak because I couldn't hold the laughter anymore; I snorted and burst into cackles. I wished I could point at him while I laughed. Sasuke was actually _mad_ and he was trying to be serious and angry with me… with _toothpaste_ in his messed-up hair!

"How the _fuck_ did _I_ start this?" He asked incredulously. "And why are you still laughing!?" He then hissed.

"Th-there's _toothpaste_ in your hair… It looks like some guy busted all over your hair!…" I said in between choked-back laughs. His bangs were all over his forehead, too. Some strands of hair were sticking to his cheeks, and others to his eyebrows. He was red-faced when I looked up at him, but he was still glaring and I realized that I hadn't answered his first question. "Oh, and you elbowed me while I was brushing my teeth and because of you I hurt my gums a little. I didn't mean for it to get like this." I explained, finally calming down.

"'Not my fault you brush your teeth weird." He mumbled back but I still heard him. My eyes widened in shock as I flung his wrist away and found the pillow I had abandoned on the floor next to us.

"_You_— I hit him across the head with it— brush _your_ teeth weird! Who does it with their left hand!?" I incredulously pointed out. He narrowed his eyes at me as he wrestled the pillow out of my hand, hit my forehead with it and then flung it over my shoulder before I could violently take it back from him.

"I'm ambidextrous!" He defended. Then smugly insulted, "Who does everything with just their right hand, anyway?"

"Hey, I'm as ambidextrous as the next shinobi, okay, I just don't brush my teeth with my left hand; how do you even go about doing that?" I asked with a chuckle. He blushed.

"I've been doing it that way since I was little." He revealed as he defended himself, quietly. I shrugged. Whatever.

"Okay. Can I finish rinsing my mouth out now?" I asked. He was still on top of me and I didn't want to think about how confused I would be about this later. He smirked again, like the proud feline that had artistically escaped the dumb, barking dog.

"No. You may not." He superiorly responded. I glared at him.

"So what, you're just going to sit there all day?" I countered with a cocked brow.

"Yes it's comfortable here." He said as he left go of my wrist and crossed his arms. I held back a snicker because he didn't look so superior with his hair all fucked up. I sniggered as a strand peeled itself off of his forehead. He glared at me, ran a hand through his hair and ta-da! It was back in place. Now I had nothing to make fun of. The toothpaste in his bangs wasn't as comical when he didn't have tornado-hair. I pouted.

"I'll give you three seconds to get your Uchiha ass off of me before I _throw_ you off." I threatened. Sasuke would only respond to threats at this point. He looked intent on holding his ground as he shrugged in a lazy manner.

"I happen to like keeping my Uchiha ass on you. Besides, you should think twice about using your chakra. We still have a spar ahead of us." He dominantly reminded. I glared daggers at him. _Smug bastard_. With a war cry I grabbed his shirt and heaved as hard as I could with my regular strength. I managed to off-balance him a little bit but he wouldn't budge. I wanted to wipe that smug expression off of his face. He was sitting directly on my bladder and I was getting uncomfortable.

"You're sitting on my bladder and now I have to pee. Get. Off." I hissed. He snorted as if he didn't care.

"You should've thought of that before you held my head under the sink with your _annoying _strength." He smoothly replied.

"You're just jealous because you don't _have_ my strength." I sniffed back confidently.

"Tch."

"Sasuke get off before I pee all over your couch." I warned.

He narrowed his eyes.

"You would never." He countered. I cocked an eyebrow and tried to put an innocent expression on my face.

"Oh? You don't think so? I don't have to stay here and smell urine for the rest of forever; I can always just crash somewhere else 'till the locksmiths come by." I replied sweetly. And then, I took a deep breath, smiled and closed my eyes, pretending to concentrate. He was off of me in an instant. I was up half a second later and just a moment after that, I was in the bathroom, doing my business, washing my hands, rinsing the remaining toothpaste out of my mouth, tying my hair up in a tail and cleaning the mess we made. Sasuke stepped in after I was done and I noticed that he had tidied up the living room while I fixed the bathroom.

I walked over to the doorway and slipped on my boots. He was out of the bathroom a few minutes later, his hair damp, but the toothpaste gone from it. He found kusanagi, strapped it to his back, grabbed a couple of weapons pouches and handed me one when he met me at the door. He slid his feet into his sandals and we nodded at each other.

-X-

The training field was close to our side of the village, but it was deep in the woods. Both Sasuke and I seemed to agree that we didn't want to alarm anyone; I was destructive with my strength and Sasuke's chakra was well-known by many anbu and would possibly draw unwanted, negative attention if it rose too high during our spar. This field was unremarkable in the fact that it was just a large field of grass. There were no trees in the center where we positioned ourselves; they were uprooted a long time ago thanks to Tsunade-sama and myself. There was a huge patch of lush grass and maybe seventy or so feet around us you could see the trees of the rest of the woods begin in all directions. We stood apart.

Sasuke adopted an open stance as I relaxed mine and poised my hands into a hand sign… the sign for "boar". It was the beginning sign of my mizu-muchi-no-jutsu. My water-whip.

"List any handicaps now, while you have the chance." He reminded maybe ten feet away from me. He didn't need to speak up as much as he did. Aside from chirping birds, buzzing insects and the sound of the humid breeze, there was nothing impairing me from hearing him. I shook my head.

"None. But if you hold back I'll never forgive you." I reminded instead, my face completely serious.

"I have one for you…" He mentioned after a pause and my interest piqued. I cocked an eyebrow. He didn't know what I was capable of… so…how could he _possibly _tell me what not to do?

He tapped his forehead and I realized he was talking about the seal on mine. I glared ice-daggers at him. I wished I was born with Haku's kekkei-genkai so I _could_ throw ice-daggers at him! That suggestion was more for_ my_ safety than his! What a _smug_ son of a bitch!

"You're going to regret that suggestion…" I growled in a dangerous tone. He smirked in response.

"Right. Which move would you like me to begin and end with?" He queried smugly. He's _so_ dead. _So dead_. Shit-talker! I smirked as my own comeback fluttered to the forefront of my mind.

"The same one you use in bed!" I shouted back and flashed through my hand-signs as he looked at me, _stunned_ for just a split second, before he narrowed his eyes and drew kusanagi.

"Suiton: mizu-muchi-no-jutsu!" I called and my chakra morphed into a long, thin whip in my hand, courtesy of my perfect chakra control. Sasuke flash-stepped forward and we clashed. He struck downwards at me and I coiled my whip around his blade, making sure the water spun at an incredible rate to increase its durability in the face of the famous sword that could supposedly cut through anything.

"You haven't had the pleasure of knowing what moves I begin _or_ end with in bed…" He murmured, a fire dancing in his sharingan eyes. The three tomoe spun as he stared at the whip around his sword. I smirked and he waited for me to talk shit back to him.

"I haven't had the 'pleasure'? Don't you mean, 'boredom'?" I asked. He narrowed his eyes and I felt his chakra pulsate. A flash of blue confirmed his next move: chidori nagashi. Water and lightning generally weren't supposed to interact if the two weren't working towards a similar goal. I dodged just in time, dispersing my whip into tiny droplets surrounding my body as I retreated to a safer distance while Sasuke had his lightning-assisted temper tantrum.

To be honest, it was nerve-wracking being so close to his raiton after he had almost blasted his chidori through my chest that one time… I ignored my shudder. Sasuke watched me with calm eyes as he waited for me. I glared at him; I did _not_ like that he wasn't striking when he clearly had the opportunity to.

"I _said_ **no holding back or I won't forgive you!**" I growled out and launched at him. I know he paused to let me catch my breath; I _know _his stupid eyes caught and understood my fear, but I was _angry _that he let that affect the shinobi he saw me as. I was still fucking _strong, _whether bad memories caused fear to rear its ugly head or not! He needed to get that through his thick skull! The water droplets swirled around me as I moved and I guided them back into my hand with minimal effort. I lashed out at him with my whip, literally. 'Nothing like a little bit of anger reflecting in your movements to get a man to move. He side-stepped out of the way and launched forward, swiping at me with his sword. He was moving pretty quickly, but he was _still _holding back. This couldn't even be called fighting; we might as well be fucking dancing! It wasn't long before I grew frustrated with him. I whipped, he dodged and made some lame attempt to give me a bad haircut. Over and over. He wasn't even _trying _to be dangerous!

Fine. Fuck it. If he won't take me seriously, I'll have to _make _him take me seriously! I dispersed my water-whip, reached into the pouch at my leg, grabbed maybe six exploding-tag kunai as I dodged another lame attack and violently flicked them _all _in his direction as I quickly back-flipped and detonated the tags only a half-second later. _I _could dodge debris and heal burns if I got them. Sasuke, however? I think not. One way or another I don't think he was expecting me to get mad enough to detonate exploding tags at close-range. Anyway, using the fire, smoke, and debris as a distraction I jumped as far away from his chakra signature as I could and blasted through twenty-five seals in quick succession.

"Suition! Suiryudan no jutsu!" The dragon of water I called to life screeched hellishly as it dove for Sasuke right when the dirt settled on the field after the blast. Sasuke's face was shocked and his hands blasted through seals as the dragon headed for him.

"Katon! Gokka Mekkakyu no jutsu!" He took a _deep_ breath from what I could see. And then… just a second later, like the guardian of the underworld himself, he blew out a _massive_ wall of fire _just_ as my dragon dive-bombed towards him with snapping teeth and everything. My eyes widened as my gigantic, _precious_ dragon collided with his _huge_ wall that Madara himself would've been proud of. A loud hiss reverberated through the clearing and steam filled the entire area.

Birds and other wild life fled with calls of panic because it was crystal clear that shit just got _real_. I had only used a third of my chakra reserves making that dragon; meaning I was getting better at amplifying my chakra outside of my body through the usage of chakra control. I had a kunai out and ready as Sasuke suddenly appeared next to me in the thick cloud of steam. My lungs felt heavy from the moisture I was breathing in as I dodged him. He disappeared into the steam again. This time, he was serious.

_Good_. Never again would Uchiha Sasuke assume that I'm weak because his stupid raiton brought up bad memories, shannaro!

My clothes stuck to me as I deflected his strikes, one by one as they came in quick succession. The fourth time he dive-bombed at me from above, but something was different. The way the steam moved around us felt unnatural. _Something_ just wasn't sitting right about the way things looked. I gasped and cut off my own flow of chakra, disrupting Sasuke's subtle and near-successful genjutsu. I whirled around just in time to block his kusanagi with my kunai. My strength wavered against his; the muscles in my arms jumped against the force of his blow. He was smirking at me, sharingan lazily spinning as he watched me, just inches away from my face. I was mesmerized momentarily by how beautiful and _red_ his eyes were amongst the grey and white of the steam around us. They seemed to _glow_ like embers in a fire.

"Kakashi always said you were a genjutsu type." He murmured, and his voice sounded almost intimate in the silence of the field. I didn't let him get to me. I pushed back against his sword with just a tiny bit of chakra to enhance my strength. He held steady, even though his feet slid back on the now-damp grass. Come to think of it, wasn't it dangerous to look an Uchiha in his eyes?

"Let's see how you do against this…" He smirked over the clashing metal between us.

And the bright red of his eyes bled to black, but in the center… holy _shit_! I looked away but it was too late! I was already falling victim to his eternal mangekyou sharingan. Because I was resisting, it felt similar to falling off of a cliff… but in an agonizing slow motion. It was like that feeling you get when you fall asleep, but much slower. You're afraid; you know your brain is going somewhere that isn't _reality_ but you can't do anything about it. I found myself in the same clearing as before, except the sky was red, causing the steam around us to look reddish and the grass was black.

Fuck. Sasuke was _officially _in my head— that was _not_ a good thing, as there were many things in my head I did not want him to know. I looked up and saw the pattern of his eternal mangekyou in the sky through the steam. When you weren't _here_ in this backwards, _weird_ world, the pattern of his eyes was actually really pretty. I had never looked at it up close. It looked like a six-pointed star with a windmill in the center. It almost looked like a flower.

"Do you like it?" I snapped my head to where he stood in front of me. He was just suddenly _there_. Everything in my mind knew it was him; I just panicked because I couldn't sense him until he showed up. It was _strange_, but I convinced myself that he was in control here. This was his territory. I wouldn't sense or see him until he wanted me to.

"How much time has passed?" I asked instead, just to stall. I wasn't sure if he was going to start seeing information or poking around in my mind. From what Kakashi-sensei told me about his experience with Itachi-san… time was skewed here so I might as well talk about time. Sasuke shrugged.

"You could've been staring at the sky for hours…" He drawled.

Suddenly I felt _exhausted_ like I _had_ been standing still for hours. My knees and lower back ached and I wanted nothing more than to sit down whether the grass was freakishly black or not. Sasuke seemed to sense my discomfort and smirked, smugly. Suddenly, I felt a _rage_ that was certainly not his bubble around us in the atmosphere like killing intent and I could tell Sasuke sensed it too. He was looking around quickly, wondering what was coming, and from where.

Oh… that's right…he didn't know about Inner… _yet_…

Well… it's too late now, he was about to meet her… She appeared next to me like a phantom, with a black and white outfit, black hair and piercing green eyes. She did not look happy. Her arms were crossed. The diamond on her forehead was white outlined in black and the character for her name surrounded it. Sasuke studied her in shock and fascination.

"**I don't like visitors, Sasuke-kun…" **Inner spoke standing confidently next to me. I quietly watched their interaction, surprised that she would rise to defend me. She hadn't done something like this since Ino invaded my mind years ago during the chunnin exams...

Sasuke's eyes widened further… apparently this _wasn't_ normal… He stared at her, then at me, then back at her.

"How the hell are you doing that?" He finally asked me and I could visibly see the confusion in his eyes as he ignored Inner. "_I'm _supposed to be in control here…" And then he turned back to her and glared. He opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted him.

"**OUT SHANNARO!" **She demanded furiously. Somehow, through her, I could tell Sasuke's mind was trying to oppress her, or me, or us, or whatever— however it works. Inner grew three sizes and _literally _kicked Sasuke out of my head. When I blinked, the world was normal again, even though I felt dizzy and nauseous. Sasuke was gripping his face by his eyes, whilst jumping a few feet away from me. It felt like we were in there for a while but in reality a second hadn't even passed yet.

"What the _fuck_ was _that_ in your head?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes and blinked, staring at his hands, then finally looking up to meet my eyes. I stood neatly poised as my dizziness slowly subsided. I felt groggy, as if I had just woken up, but _we_ had somehow pushed back _his_ sharingan! I was on a winning streak and I wasn't about to let him know he had affected me negatively in any way. He didn't know what was going on, clearly, and if it scared him to think I was immune to his precious mangekyou sharingan, then so be it!

"My mind." Now I smirked because it was time to make him eat his own words. "Do you like it?" I sneered confidently. He narrowed his eyes and seemed to finally realize that I was quite a dangerous opponent. We both stored our surprise for later as he dove towards me again, this time swinging his sword faster. A kunai wouldn't do for much longer, I would need a blade as well. But first I would need time to search through the weapons pouch. Maybe there was a seal or something in there that carried a blade. Sasuke was anbu, so didn't he technically carry a standard anbu weapons pouch? Those generally included a sword of some sort that you could unseal in times of difficulty… like this.

Our weapons clinked and clanged as we danced around each other like _vipers_, snapping and ducking, tucking, and lashing. Finally, he sent one, hard, swing my way. I blocked it, but my kunai had already chipped one too many times and Sasuke's blade sunk deep into it. It would snap any second now… I pumped chakra into my legs and pushed forward. I forced my right foot forward and tapped it onto the ground. Sasuke's eyes widened as his sharingan read what was about to happen to him. He dove backwards and I abandoned my kunai as I jumped backwards as well. Rocks and patches of grass flew _everywhere_ creating a wind that blew a lot of the steam from our previous major collision away. Wasting zero time, I found the little seal paper inside the pouch and poured just a tiny drop of chakra into it.

Poof!

To my delight, a nice, modern chokuto that reminded me of Sai's popped out of the paper and into my hand. I stood at the edge of the gigantic crater I made in the field. Sasuke stood at the other edge, breathing hard. He had to dodge every rock that flew his way while he avoided the destruction that my foot caused, so no wonder he was a little winded. When the quaking of the earth settled, Sasuke lunged forward and so did I. We met at the center of the crater and our weapons collided. I moved like water; he moved like fire. His strikes were heavy yet swift, and mine flowed effortlessly from one to the next. He quickly slashed several times in succession while I fluidly defended, then he took a moment to defend and rest from the exertion while I spun into offensive swings.

We switched back and forth like this, until he _broke_ my chokuto by infusing kusanagi with his raiton. Sasuke's blade glowed bright blue and vibrated with his lightning chakra and cut through mine like butter. I had just barely managed to dive backwards and placed my palms on the ground to avoid getting my head chopped off. I took advantage of Sasuke's forward momentum, and sent a chakra-infused kick to his shoulder that he couldn't dodge in his position while I was still bent over backwards. The sickening crack of bone reverberated through the air as I back-flipped after pushing off of him and caught my breath. I was down another third of my chakra, just because of that kick and all the chakra I used trying to fight back the strength of his blows during our brief kenjutsu battle. I wasn't surprised that I had to strengthen my body with chakra against his sword strikes because they were so damned powerful. They didn't call him a kenjutsu expert for nothing; that was for sure.

Sasuke skidded across the ground for a few feet after I kicked him while I gasped like an old lady. He eventually flipped up to his feet and glowered at me. He was _not_ happy, but neither was I. I was starting to get winded and I had nowhere near as much chakra or stamina as he did. He was still almost at full capacity. The only thing that really drained anything from him was trying to use Tsukuyomi on me. I had to end this fight, _fast_. I couldn't use genjutsu, or ninjutsu because he'd counter any genjutsu effortlessly and I didn't have the chakra to waste on ninjutsu when he could just sit there and throw his own ninjutsu at me all day like it's his _job_.

I looked at his crumpled, limp arm. If he couldn't fight through the pain and use it, he wouldn't be using ninjutsu. I could finish him off with taijutsu and iryo-ninjutsu. He dropped Kusanagi to the side very suddenly and lifted one hand, flying through hand-seals as if he were _bored_. Great… leave it to Sasuke to be able to do one-handed seals.

"Katon! Goenka no jutsu!"

Shit.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! I dodged three _huge_ bullets of fire as fast as I could. By the time I dodged the third fireball, I didn't have the stamina to completely evade the wild-fire the fireball turned into. The fire bloomed like a flower, thus the technique's name. My nin-skirt caught fire and I stopped, dropped and rolled in the remainder of the damp grass until it was out. Sasuke was relentless, however and didn't stop just because I was putting out the fire on my clothes.

"Katon! Goryuka no jutsu!"

Three hell-dragons made entirely of fire spat out of his mouth. Sasuke was officially the evil spawn of some fire-demon! I felt the heat of the dragons _meters_ before they even hit me! The entire field heated up and I could feel my skin tighten and firm under the intense hot air; even my eyes dried up! I dodged _all_ of them, coating my body in water, just in case I slipped up and _couldn't _evade. Sasuke wasn't done yet and I hadn't even managed to move closer to him. That wasn't a good situation for me to be in, but he _was_ injured. We both knew that if I got up close, he'd be the one fucked out of the two of us.

"Katon! Hibashiri no jutsu!"

A tall ring of fire encircled him and blasted outwards from his body. The only way to evade it was to get airborne! … This was my chance to close the gap!

"Suiton! Suiryudan no jutsu!" With another good chunk of precious chakra, I rose into the air atop my water-dragon's head and propelled myself towards Sasuke. I dove over his ring of fire.

"Katon! Gokakyu no jutsu!" One _huge_ ball of fire hit the center my dragon's body, cutting it in half with a hiss of steam. I jumped off before the fire consumed me as well.

*Hiss!* More steam blanketed us, obscuring our vision as the rest of my dragon disappeared. Because my chakra was relatively low, I didn't need my eyes to see Sasuke. I could sense him just ahead of me perfectly. I sped towards him.

Nope. He was in freak-out mode.

"Katon! Gokakyu no jutsu!"

Shit. Another huge fireball that I was running _right_ into. I gathered the last of my chakra.

"Suiton! Teppodama no jutsu!" Just like Sasuke shot out a huge ball of fire, I shot out a huge ball of water to counter it. I dove into the center of the water-bullet at the last second and powered through the hissing steam afterwards as it dissipated his fireball.

Ten feet away… I was closing in on him…

Five feet… I still can't see him but I _know_ he's there…

Three feet! Got him!

Sasuke's palm lit up with lightning.

I jumped forward, stopped short as his hand shout out to _end_ me, and sailed right over his head. His eyes followed me, but his body was slow, most likely because he jarred his injury as he moved. I pressed a finger against his other shoulder.

_Crrrrrrunch! _

With the last drop of my chakra I managed to dislocate his shoulder. He smirked, and whirled around to face me as I skidded backwards, huffing and puffing. As he turned he used his momentum to sickeningly whip his shoulder back into place, another disgusting bodily sound filling the eerie silence in the steamy area as he did so. I lunged forward with a battle cry, fist ready to just pummel him into the ground when I felt the hairs stand up on my skin. Lightning crackled around him and through his katana stuck in the ground off to his side. My discarded kunai was off to his other side as well, and between him, kusanagi and my kunai, I was stuck in the middle of a triangle of flowing electricity.

"Do you give in, Sakura?" He asked, a serious expression on his face. He could chidori Nagashi this _entire_ section and I would be one _fried _kunoichi…

"I think I'll take my chances with your chidori nagashi." I smirked only because I _still _had chakra stored in my seal… it was _still _water-based chakra. I could _still_ somehow manipulate my chakra so his lightning flowed _through_ it and _around _my vitals… but I would have to test something like that on the fly in this case and I didn't exactly want to, though I was perfectly ready to if necessary and I wanted him to know that.

"You must be suicidal then." He grumbled, quietly catching his breath as the lightning made the steam around us glow blue. Again the little death-promising flowers of his sharingan glowed red, a striking difference in the color scheme around us. Even his shirt wasn't as red as his eyes.

"Think about it. In an actual battle scenario I would active my seal. It would give me a chakra boost. _Meanwhile_ you chidori-nagashi the shit out of me but instead of resisting your nature, I allow it to simply flow _through_ me, since my nature is water. There _is_ a chance I could live and continue fighting without even needing to release the rest of the seal to heal the nerve damage that could possibly result from your raiton." I explained logically.

His eyes studied me calmly as I spoke.

"But there's a chance that you're not as great of a chakra sensor as you think, being tired and winded from the long battle, not to mention mentally exhausted from resisting my tsukuyomi, thus there's a chance that you slip up and the lightning courses to your vitals and _kills _you." He pointed out.

"True, but we won't ever know until we find out." I was slightly running on an adrenaline high and I forgot that he didn't want me to activate my seal and that I _was _taking our competitiveness a little far.

"Stop." He commanded and the lightning faded out around us. "I know that shit cuts your lifespan down. Enough." His tone left no room for argument as he let his uninjured arm fall to his side. I frowned.

"Fine, I guess you can win this time." I grumbled as I searched the pack for a chakra pill. I wondered if there was any in here; there wasn't time to look earlier.

"What are you looking for?" He grouched. I wasn't surprised he was in a bad mood; I would be too if my shoulder was in a thousand pieces. He must be hurting, _bad_. I found the pill and popped it in my mouth as he took a breath to tell me to not take it. My chakra returned rapidly and I set to healing him as he glared at me, his eyes no longer red. Yes, it was stupid to force chakra out of myself when my body naturally couldn't produce any _that_ fast, but at the same time; I wasn't about to make him walk to the hospital with a shattered shoulder. I was going to fix it completely right here.

"Just shut up and promise me you'll carry me back." I commented as I worked on him. He sighed.

"I think I'll find a bench to leave you on instead." He drawled sarcastically. I poked his still healing shoulder with a small smile and he grit his teeth in pain.

"You might want to be nice to your medic, Sasuke…" I informed.

"Hn." There was a small smile on his lips. I shot him a tiny smile back.

If I were to be honest, I actually had fun during our spar. Sasuke was quite a different opponent to battle, _and_ I enjoyed proving him wrong.

It's really too bad that as soon as his shoulder's done I'll be out cold for a few hours…

-X-

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! FINALLY FINISHED!

Oh my god. No more battles. God I detest writing them, really. It's too bad that this plot is going to demand more of them T_T

So now we know that Sakura is thoroughly confused about Sasuke and would much rather run from him than to him lmfao I promise we have one more little thing to do before the story really gets interesting. I assure you this is really just the beginning of this fic. This is the calm portion of it. The real drama begins after this next event!

I really hope you guys enjoyed that fight. Let me know if you hate this chapter or love it. Let me know what you think in general I need your input… NEED IT. It's a _need_ guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!


	22. Shogi

KISEKI

|22|

Okay. So I wiped out this chapter like twenty million times and just kept rewriting it until it was perfect; that's why it took me over a month to update; partially. I also lost my sense of Sasuke for a while because of things that had been going on in my life. There was just this weird disconnection in my writing. It wouldn't flow and it just wasn't entertaining and I felt like the scenes I kept writing weren't true-to-Sasuke enough. He wasn't OOC but he wasn't exactly _Sasuke_ either. He like went back to emo-Sasuke in the anime and he wasn't KISEKI/trying-to-be-as-great-as-Itachi Sasuke that I made him be in this fic. Get me? Anyway, that being said, I went back and re-read my story to get a better perspective on him. The results were fabulous. I reconnected immediately. It's been long enough for me to honestly say that I forgot the finer details of KISEKI so it was a pleasure to re-read. Sometimes I looked at my work and laughed and I was like "Wow, I forgot I wrote that!"

Anyway, to update you guys, in the last couple of months, I changed my job, struggled with bills, with signing up for college (after working for like, _ever_), had general life problems that I needed to fix and whatnot, had to settle down with the new work-flow and whatever. I legitimately, _honestly_ have had life get in my way. Thankfully, though, I have the same "never give up" "I back up my words" type of nindo that Naruto has so I got through most of it. I'm happy to get back to writing KISEKI and more than happy to say I've gotten past my block for now. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Also! Please read the Author's Note at the end of this chapter! I have surprise-news for you all!

-X-

I watched from my seated position on the dew-covered grass as Sakura healed me while she kneeled in front of me. She was nervous. If I read further into her body language, I would say that she was _embarrassed_. She was glaring holes into my shoulder with a blush on her cheeks, not looking me in the eye. I could tell she was lost in her own thoughts. Was she worried about what I thought of her?

Probably.

But to be honest, I should have expected something like this. Was that _thing_ in her head what was causing her to be different recently? But it— or _she_— called me "Sasuke-kun" the way Sakura used to, so was that thing the real Sakura or was the real Sakura the one that was concentrating on my shoulder right now? Which was the _right_ personality? I was confused, to say the least. I won't lie to you, either; I debated on distracting her and catching her in the Tsukuyomi again if only to interrogate the "other" Sakura. But that would probably make Sakura—whichever one was the "real" one— hate me. My best bet is talking to her… to whichever "her" is out right now... Whatever, either way, she knows I saw it. There was no denying what we were both there to witness; it's not like she can pass it off as an internal genjutsu or whatever, because that wouldn't have worked on the Tsukuyomi anyway. I took the chance and asked her about it.

"What was that other you in your head?" I asked blatantly because there was no way to approach this subject subtly. If Sakura had my doujutsu, she'd have roasted me by now. Her glare was so intense she'd have set my shoulder on fire with amaterasu before I even got to finish my sentence. But despite her anger she _still_ wasn't meeting my eyes. She was _obviously _ashamed and struggling with that shame.

I _hated _to see her that way. She had no real reason to be embarrassed. We _all_ had mental issues. Look at me: I'm the poster child for mental issues. At least hers are useful in battle. I was really only looking for clarification from her: was that thing an issue to her or not? Boldly, I reached over and pinched her chin between my thumb and my curled index finger and lifted her head... maybe with a little bit _too_ much force and domination out of my need to set things straight. Her green eyes snapped to mine and I realized, by the details of her face that my sharingan was still active. She glared _boldly _into my eyes; something no one has ever done before. It's not like she needed to fear my doujutsu anyway now that she had a way to negate it almost completely. Speaking of which, _fuck me_; I _still_ couldn't believe she could do that…

"I don't know, okay?" She spat venomously in response, even though she never stopped healing me. I was amazed that she could manage being pissed off at me, yet heal me at the same time. Her expression changed a little from anger to uncertainty before it quickly molded back into anger. It was the tiniest relaxation of the muscles around her mouth and eyes for maybe less than a second, but the sharingan still picked the change up. She knew _somewhat_ what it was, it was just hard to explain and she didn't want to sound stupid.

"Don't lie to me." I stated neutrally. I wasn't angry, I was more concerned than anything. She finished healing my shoulder and smacked my hand off of her chin, _forcefully_. My arm flew to the side, still sore from her turning my shoulder into rubble only minutes ago, and I scraped the back of my hand against some rocks beneath the grass when it connected with the ground. We were still surrounded by this damned steam, only now we were upset with each other. She was mad at me for approaching her mental issues and I was mad at her for smacking my hand away. I didn't _want_ to be the bigger person, because she was throwing the rare affection that I never showed anyone else back into my face, but I knew nii-san would have wanted me to be, so I kept myself from yelling.

"You think it's easy, being the only one in existence who has this problem!?" She shouted at me and stood up, fists clenched. Instinctively, I flew to my feet as well because that was a battle stance and my brain wouldn't let me sit on my ass when someone else looked like they wanted to pound me into the ground, weak chakra or not… In any case, I was amazed that she was still standing. Her chakra was so low she _should_ technically be passing out at any second right now.

"How do you know you're the only one?" I asked quietly, calmly. I didn't feel calm, but it was easy to act calm when I had myself convinced that she was only yelling because she was afraid. And truthfully, she was. The sharingan picked up the fear in her eyes. She was afraid of what I thought because she thinks that I'm _normal_… Was she forgetting about that fight with Naruto under that bridge the day I almost killed her? I was the furthest thing from normal.

"You're not the only one who has met Inner…" She mumbled and her stance wilted from exhaustion. I relaxed a little at the lack of hostility and raised a brow. She didn't notice the change in expression because she had averted her eyes to the grass and crossed her arms, shyly. I _hated_ seeing her like that. She was _Haruno fucking Sakura_; the girl who just gave _me_ a good fight… there was no need for her to act so fucking _broken_, like she was irreparable or weird. It pissed me off and I fought the urge to grab her and shake her back into herself. She continued speaking. "After Kakashi-sensei took you away during the chunnin exams, I fought Ino. You know that we both knocked each other out, but before that happened I had kicked _her_ out of my head with Inner too. Ino says it's like a second mind or a second soul and as far as I know Inner only shows up when I have things to repress or hide." She explained robotically, then glared up at me with the fierce and guarded jade eyes I had missed seeing. "So forget you saw her, Sasuke."

Forget I saw her? Impossible. That's like telling Kiba to forget his dog. It just would never come to that.

"Is it anything like a split personality?" I asked in a strained tone, because I needed to know _just_ how far down the rabbit-hole I had fallen… _Thankfully_ she shook her head.

"Ino said no. It's more like other parts of me that don't get addressed taking on a form in my mind. Inner doesn't like to be dissected so Ino never got any further with her than that. Inner protects my mind, so she's not a bad thing and she's been pretty quiet until recently." Sakura informed, still with that ever-present guarded expression.

Wait.

_Until recently_? What happened _recently_ that set Sakura off?

"How recently?" I asked, because I needed a timeframe to see if this is at all connected to what happened between Sakura and Naruto. Sakura glared at me.

"It's none of your business how recently." She clipped. I glared back at her, but held my tongue. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I wasn't going to push the subject. Sakura was getting defensive, judging by her closed-off body language and I wasn't going to help her by forcing information out of her. If she wanted to talk about it, she could when she's ready. I held both my hands up in a surrendering position. Sakura looked at me skeptically. It was clear she was surprised I was backing off. To my credit, I even cut the flow of chakra to my eyes and shut off my doujutsu.

"Hn. I won't pry if you don't want me to." I paused for a second as her eyes darted across my face. "And you're not insane, so stop being defensive about it."

"What?" She asked, confused. I sighed and crossed my arms. She wasn't getting what I was trying to tell her. How do you tell a person you understand them?

"I'm not _stupid_, Sakura. You're embarrassed." And you fucking don't need to be embarrassed, just fucking understand me already… Don't make me say everything so bluntly; I'm not Naruto.

"What does me not being insane have to do with me being embarrassed?" She snipped, cheeks burning pink. She was now in an offensive pose, leaning slightly forward on the balls of her feet. Her arms slowly fell to her sides and she balled her hands into fists, ready to deck me if I said the wrong thing. Good. This is how she _should_ be. I wanted to sigh, anyway. I rolled my eyes instead because she was being _annoying_ even though I liked it.

"Just stop being _annoying_; you're not that weird." I shrugged and turned on my heel, intent on going back to my apartment and maybe having dinner or something. I walked a few paces and stopped to turn around only to find her gaping at me. I glared at her. Well, what the fuck was she waiting for? Why is she so surprised that I wasn't being an asshole for once?

"_What_?" I snipped. My face felt a little hot. I wasn't used to giving people comfort, not verbally at least. She shook her head and smiled and I watched as she caught up to me.

"Nothing, nevermind." She responded and _mercifully _we walked back to my apartment in a silence that I have to say was _very_ comfortable.

-X-

That night, Sakura _insisted _on cooking dinner. She gave me a "chakra control scroll" to occupy myself with while she cooked. So I sat at the kitchen table and made myself pissed off at this stupid scroll. It was simple: you poured your chakra into it and as you did so, based on where your level of control is, the picture— on this scroll it was a perfectly round ring— changed color. After you changed the color you had to narrow your flow of chakra, but keep it just as powerful. If you couldn't do it, you started back at black— which was zero chakra control. The colors changed with the "difficulty level"— which Sakura conveniently told me was a video game term she had learned at some _whatever-it-was_ in some stupid, obscure country I'd never bothered with going to.

Whatever. My point is, I was three colors in, _stuck_ at purple. I was quickly beginning to _hate_ the color… as well as this scroll. By the time I dripped myself dry of chakra I had rolled it shut in aggravation. I glared at Sakura's back as she snickered from her position in front of the stove. She was making some sort of stew tonight. I growled to myself, sealed the scroll away into my weapons pouch and shut myself in the bathroom. I must have showered for at least twenty minutes; just too lazy to even come out. It had been years since I felt the strain of chakra exhaustion. I practically _fell_ out of the bathroom when I was done and dropped into my chair, happy that Sakura had set up the table and put food on both our plates. I reached for the green tea first… for whatever reason green tea _always _made me feel better.

"Oh my, is the mighty Uchiha Sasuke _actually_ exhausted?" Sakura teased.

I looked up at her almost sharply. Was she _really_ going to fuck with me when I felt this bad? She cackled. Yes. Yes she was going to screw with me.

"Oh kami-sama, you look like an edo-tensei, Sasuke. Calm down; I was just joking. Itadakimasu." She replied in a giggling tone. Yes, ha-fucking-ha. Sasuke is tired for once. Fuck this, I feel like an old man.

"I don't get how you do it. It's unnatural." I replied blandly, because her chakra control was anything but normal or natural. My chakra just did what it was supposed to however it wanted to. I always had enough of it and if I didn't I just trained harder. It wasn't _normal_ to use so little, but make such a big impact with it. It honestly wasn't. But then again, Sakura was never _normal_. None of us from team seven ever really were so in the grand scale of things, it made sense. Naruto was a jinchuriki with all the spirit and color every shinobi lacked; I was a naturally gifted shinobi with a legacy unlike any other and Sakura happened to be a clever girl with freakish efficiency and intelligence. Kami-sama seriously has a fucked up sense of humor.

She snorted and placed her spoon back into the beef stew she made. She covered her mouth as she laughed and I continued glaring at her, too tired to even activate my sharingan, not that it would be threatening to her now that she could negate it. Kami-sama _damn it_.

"Sorry, you just look so mad. Do you need a massage or something?" She half-snickered; not _really_ sorry for anything.

I tried to melt her brain with my glare and failed. What I _needed_ was to succeed at the exercise in that fucking scroll. I was kind of mad that I wasn't getting it. I _always_ got anything and everything I wanted to learn on the first or second try. It wasn't _normal_ for me to _not_ succeed at something. Is this how Naruto and Sakura felt when we were kids? It _sucked_. I felt like I was seven again, trying to learn the gokakyu no jutsu from my dad… except this was ten times worse because I don't have the excuse of being seven years old and I'm learning something from _Sakura_, a kunoichi with disarming pink hair but insane chara control. Fuck.

"Okay, okay, relax. You'll get it. I'll show you how _I_ do it tomorrow. Maybe it'll help you…" She appeased and I sighed as I scratched the cowlicks at the back of my head.

"Whatever." I huffed.

She kicked my shin under the table.

"Fu— Saku_ra_!" I hissed at her, glaring into her peeved expression, and intense, green eyes.

"Stop being moody and enjoy the soup." She threatened as she pointed her spoon at me. I rolled my eyes and started eating.  
…

…

…

Hn. Whatever.

There was still time after dinner so after Sakura showered, we made a quick trip to the Laundromat and washed the soggy dress and blazer from the other night. At this point, we were _both_ exhausted. After I put away the clean laundry I dumped myself onto the couch and turned on the tv. I didn't even want to read because reading was too complicated at the moment. Sakura crashed on the couch next to me and flipped the channel to a Fujikaze Yukie movie. I narrowed my eyes at the movie.

"Isn't that—

"Koyuki-hime!" Sakura grinned as she tilted her head towards me. "She _still_ makes movies!"

"She hasn't aged." I noted.

Literally. The woman looked the same as when we went to the snow country to do that mission forever ago. I vaguely remembered watching winter turn into a picturesque spring with my head in Sakura's lap… while repressing the curse seal telling me to rape and kill her. I shuddered at the memories. I was glad I didn't hear those voices anymore.

"Well, Koyuki-hime was always really pretty. Tenten and Hinata say that makeup and lighting make a big difference, too." Sakura shrugged as she hugged one of my pillows between her chest and her knees. I leaned back against the arm of the couch and arranged my legs so they were crossed in a half-lotus position and out of Sakura's way.

We watched the rest of the movie in silence. Eventually Sakura fell asleep. I caught her by her shirt just as she was rolling forward. It would have been funny to see her hit her face on the carpeted floor of my living room, but I kind of liked her face without injuries more than I liked picking on her.

"H~uh?" She questioned as her eyes blearily opened. She looked at the pillow She dropped on the dark carpet beneath the couch, then at my arm holding her by her red tunic.

"Shit." She leaned back, then stood up and stretched when I let her go. I shut the tv off, interrupting the credit-role and yawned. We nodded at each other and did some silent, but amiable cleaning-up. We pointed at things, nodded and moved around each other without missing a beat, which made me think Kakashi's teamwork training when we were genin wasn't for nothing. I hadn't worked with or around Sakura in years, yet, somehow we managed to click into team-mode relatively easily. After my apartment was spotless, we took turns changing in the bathroom. I let her change first, only because some deeply repressed part of me _liked_ stepping into my bedroom to find her _there _waiting for me… in my bed…

Sighing, I turned off my bathroom light after shoving my toothbrush into the little thing on the wall that held it. I peeled a lock of pink hair off of my chest (I don't even know how it got there, honestly) as I walked towards my bedroom. I found Sakura on _my_ side of the too-small-for-two bed, reading from a medical tome the size of my head, maybe bigger. The title of the leather-bound book was so worn out and faded I couldn't read it even if I had my sharingan activated. She was ignoring me, or unaware of my presence. Slowly, I walked over to her and sat down at the edge of the bed by her feet. Her legs and waist were under the sheets and her knees were bent, accentuating the curves and feminine shape she had acquired over the years. She suddenly snapped the book shut, snapping _me_ out of my thoughts simultaneously and looked at me with a small smile.

"Done?" She asked in a light tone. I nodded. She placed the book carefully on my nightstand and scooted over towards the wall, where her unofficial side was. She settled in and turned to face the wall. I flicked the small lamp on the stand off and shuffled in next to her, automatically holding her out of habit. She settled into me and some of the tension in her shoulders relaxed. I felt her muscles slacken against my chest.

"Sasuke, you owe me a bed time story, remember?" She murmured tiredly.

What? I cracked an eye open in the dark and stared at her pink hair just below me.

"Hn?"

"Remember? You said Naruto tried to convince you to marry into his clan… you were supposed to tell me how he tried." She explained.

_Oh_, that, from the restaurant and Chiho and her big mouth. Right. Nude snapshots of random redheads… right… I'd never tell her.

"You don't want to know." I responded, because really, she didn't.

"Yes I do." She tiredly argued and then yawned into my forearm atop hers. I held her closer, just because the little things she did were endearing and reminded me that I liked it when she was comfortable around me.

… What's the harm in telling her? We're all adults here… right? It was too easy for her to convince me to do things… that was a dangerous power she was beginning to have over me…

"I don't know how, but he found nude pictures of red-headed models and left them scattered all over my apartment." I responded.

"Wait, what?" She asked incredulously.

She had turned her head to face me from behind. One of her bangs irritated my face so I rubbed my cheek against her forehead to scratch the itch. Sakura grinned and moved her head again and again. I tried to dodge the hair-assault to no avail.

"Tch, Sakura, _stop_." I growled. She giggled.

"He really did that? He covered your entire apartment? Like how? Did he leave them all over the floor?" She asked.

Oh. He did _more_ than just leave them on my fucking floor…

"That idiot got creative with it. I kept finding them in weird spots months later after missions…" Like the one I found in my _fucking_ bathroom mirror when I went to collect my things to shave with. I rolled my eyes to myself as Sakura chuckled.

"And you still said no?" She asked as if in disbelief. What did she take me for, a _dog_? I wasn't Kiba. Yes, I liked sex but I had standards. There was no way in hell I would sell out my heritage to sleep with some redhead. I was glad I didn't anyway because if I had even _considered_ it six months ago, I wouldn't be here with Sakura now.

"Of course not. Sex isn't enough to make me drop my surname and everything Itachi sacrificed himself for." _Duh_, Sakura. She shrugged.

"What? You're a _guy_, you can't blame me for being surprised." She defended. I chose my words carefully.

"We're not _all_ like Yamanaka… and Inuzuka…" I replied in a mildly snide manner. Now, don't get me wrong… I _am_ horny and my libido _is_ probably way more active than a lot of guys, _but_ under no circumstances would I ever let sex cloud my judgment. That's where Inuzuka and I differ. He'll make mistakes because he thinks with the wrong head. I won't.

"I know." She replied quietly, but she seemed at ease and no more than a minute later her breaths became deep and slow and it was clear that she fell asleep. My eyelids suddenly felt _very_ heavy and my brain decided to remind me of exactly how comfortable I was at the moment. I Brushed Sakura's hair out of my face once more before I fell asleep, smirking confidently that she had some faith in me.

-X-

By the time I woke up, Sakura was gone and I was late to meet Udon. I didn't give a shit. I slept comfortably and Sakura hadn't had a single nightmare. I was more than satisfied. I dressed in a zip-up blue shirt reminiscent of the one I wore as a genin and grey shorts, also reminiscent of the ones I wore as a genin. I flew through my room, throwing on my pouches, wrist guards, hitai-ate and kusanagi. I brushed my teeth and ate some left-over dinner as I shunshinned to training ground ten as quickly as possible.

When I got there, I glared at my student. The little asshole had a snot bubble rising and falling from his nose as he slept with his head against a log. His arms and legs were crossed _all too leisurely_. I walked over and roughly nudged his ribs with my foot; no mercy there. Udon let out a startled grunt before flying to his feet. He fumbled and dropped his kunai when his eyes found me. He sighed in relief and put a hand over his racing heart, aware that I wasn't an enemy attacking him.

"O-Oyaho, sensei." He nervously greeted with a bit of adrenaline in his tone.

"Yo." I smoothly greeted back, still a little pissed that he wasn't at least going through the kata I taught him.

"You're late today." Udon claimed as he looked at the sky. It was about seven-thirty. There was no point in training and he had a surgery to get to at eight, so I trudged over and sat on the log his head was previously resting against. I smirked…

"Aa, a black cat crossed my path this morning so I had to take a detour." I snidely replied, poking fun at Kakashi to myself. Udon looked at me with a tilted head. He didn't get it and it was out of character of me to say something like that, but that was okay. He wasn't _supposed_ to get it. The joke was between me, myself and I.

"But… wait, you're superstitious?" He didn't wait for me to agree or disagree with him before he narrowed his dark eyes and pointed at me. "You're _lying_, sensei, you're not superstitious." Of course I'm not a superstitious person. Duh. What kind of shinobi would this kid be if he didn't already know that? I shrugged off his badgering and changed topics instead.

"It's too late to train in anything; you have to be at the hospital in half an hour." I stated as I watched a monarch butterfly flutter its way past us.

"I'm nervous." He responded uncertainly as he flopped onto the log next to me. The wood cracked a little under our collective weight, but it held.

"You have no reason to be." Sakura was the best medic in the shinobi _world_. It was no secret that she surpassed Tsunade, even if she refused to believe it herself. I had seen her bring people back from the precipice of death myself. I'm sure healing a kid's eyes in a safe environment was no big deal for her.

"You think Sakura-nee-san will be able to fix my eyes?" He stupidly asked, unafraid to show his obvious anxiety. I shoved him forcefully until he almost fell over. He shouted in alarm before righting himself again. "O-Oi!" He narrowed his eyes and then crossed his arms.

"I _know_ she'll be able to do _something_. Now stop worrying; you sound like a nagging housewife." I grumped back. Udon shrugged and took off his glasses. He cleaned them, replaced them and shut his eyes. Judging by the flow of his chakra, he began to meditate. So I did so too. We meditated for about fifteen minutes before I stood up and stretched.

"Let's go." I went to shake his shoulder just in case he had drifted off, but he nodded before I could so I dropped my arm and started walking towards the hospital instead. He quickly caught up to me and I noticed he was wearing blue today too. His shorts were black, however, but we still accidentally matched. A lot of villagers gaped at us as we walked to the hospital. Udon's posture became little straighter and prouder once he noticed the stares we were getting. Even though he was a subordinate, I was still grateful for his support. There were people that cared about me; people I got along with and people that I cherished. I wasn't going to feel bad for having friends because the villagers wanted me to. I straightened my back just a little bit more as well.

We finally reached the hospital five minutes before eight. The thirty-something-year-old secretary from the last time I was here smiled at me. Her dark brown hair was up in the same, bland bun and she stood to greet me, her uniform crisp and white.

"Sasuke-sama! You're early. I'll page Sakura-sama right now." She moved over to some machinery behind the desk and clicked a few buttons on something. Udon looked at the secretary in an odd way. He tugged on my shirt-sleeve and I bent down as he whispered into my ear.

"What is up with her, sensei?" He asked. The woman seemed _smitten_ about the idea that I was here. That was because of my underhanded tactics the last time she saw me. I hoped she had spread the rumors I wanted her to. I smirked.

"I'll tell you after your session with Sakura." I replied, also in a low whisper.

"While she finishes up what she's doing, you two should sit over there and fill out these papers. It's been a long time since Udon-kun has been here!" She handed me a clipboard— Sakura must have already told her I would be the acting guardian beforehand— and we walked to the right to sit on a pair of uncomfortable, bland-grey chairs. I read over the paperwork. I knew none of the answers to the questions on the papers— they were all questions about the patient; in this case, Udon. My job would be to fill out the last paper with all the payment information on it. I handed the clipboard to Udon, who reacted in mild surprise at how fast I had moved. He wasn't expecting that.

"Let me know when you get to the last page." I murmured as people filed in and out of the front doors, going about their daily business. Udon nodded and started writing on the papers. I crossed my arms and nodded off. I don't know how much later it was before I sensed Sakura's chakra coming down the hall. My eyes flew open immediately. Just as I turned to where her chakra was, I saw her in her usual outfit with her white-labcoat-and-ID-card combo draped over her shoulders. Her hair was up in a messy style today with pink strands shooting out all over the place on one side of her head. Her bangs were mostly pushed to the side. She smiled at Udon, who was still busy filling out paperwork as she sat down next to me.

"Ohayo, Sasuke." She greeted in a relaxed tone. She seemed to be in a good mood.

"Ohayo." I responded quietly.

"Ohayo Sakura-nee-san." Udon greeted, not taking his eyes off of the papers before him. Sakura chuckled.

"Ohayo Udon-kun. How was training this morning?" She asked politely.

"Nonexistent." He replied. It was a direct jab at my tardiness. The kid had _balls_.

I flicked the side of his face and he glared down at his paperwork, but ignored me as Sakura giggled at our antics. She tucked a strand of her bangs behind her ear as she watched him fill out more shit on the clipboard.

"How was your surgery this morning?" It wasn't like me to start small-talk, but I was bored and I had a nagging urge to talk to Sakura.

"Successful." She replied confidently. She had definitely gotten plenty of sleep last night. "I recovered quickly afterwards since I actually remembered to bring a snack with me today and we haven't had any emergencies." She informed off-handedly. I nodded. Good. She was having a good day. Udon signed the bottom of the last page he had to fill out and handed the clipboard to me. Sakura remained silent as she stood next to Udon and watched me work. My student was just as silent and observant. Neither of them made me uncomfortable. I had grown used to them both and so I was able to skim through what I was signing off on.

Blah-blah… you agree to not sue the shit out everyone because blah-blah; you agree to make all payments necessary-blah-blah… more blah-blah… bullshit… blah-blah… Whatever. I signed my name at the bottom of the financial disclosure statement.

Blah-blah, we respect your privacy and don't have the right to do anything to your account other than what you permit us to do… blah-blah… we won't disclose any of your information… you fuckers better not; blah-blah… more stupid BS. I signed without really reading the rest of that paragraph.

I filled out the parts that needed my bank account number and my routing number and stood up to go to the desk with my ID. The secretary smiled at me as she made the copy of my ID card, and placed it in Udon's file. Sakura walked up to the desk soon after and grabbed the file from her hands after the woman gave her a teasing look.

"Have fun, Sakura-samaaaa~…" The woman almost sang out.

Sakura grinned at her evilly.

"Oh I will, Nanako-san… don't you remember? You're getting your annual check-up done with me today…." She threatened with a devious smile and I felt sorry for the woman as she paled upon learning this information. It wasn't like she could really fake sick to get out of it, either… Sakura turned around and gave Udon a genuine smile, completely opposite of the threatening smirk she had just given Nanako.

"Come on, Udon-kun! You and Sasuke can follow me to the exam room now." She instructed cheerfully, but before she walked off I placed a hand on her shoulder. She spun around in a very shinobi-esque manner and gave me a perplexed expression.

"Sasuke?" She queried, and I honestly have to admit that I paused a few seconds before speaking, just to properly remember the way she spoke my name.

"I have a few things to do." I summoned a small brown-black-white hawk that screeched as it planted itself on my shoulder. "Send Toushi back when you're done." I looked at the hawk and nodded towards Udon. Toushi crooned and flew to the kid's shoulder. Udon was looking at Toushi with wide, curious eyes. Toushi studied him just as equally, cocking his head left and right to get a good look at him. Sakura laughed at the exchange between boy and bird.

"All right, then. Ja-ne." Sakura walked off, and Udon waved and followed after her. I watched them disappear down a corridor, before I nodded to the now-anxious secretary and went to go find the sandy-haired man that I needed advice from.

-X-

When I found the clothing store I saw him in last time, I walked in. A bell jingled as I opened the door; it made me slightly tense and I heard the sandy-haired man's wife giggle from my right. I found her carrot-colored crown up on a ladder, placing heavy jackets of some sort up on a high pole. Her honey eyes were bright as she smiled down at me, holding onto the ladder with one hand.

"Ah! Uchiha-sama! Good to see you again!" She greeted. I wasn't surprised she remembered me. It was hard to forget _the_ last living Uchiha.

"Ohayo." I greeted quietly. "Is your husband here today?" I asked and I sensed the small chakra behind me and turned just as the sandy-haired man cleared his throat. He smiled when I nodded at him.

"You have good senses. I apologize for not introducing myself last time. My name is Otoori Norami. This is my wife, Yuya." He explained. He was dressed in much more casual clothing this time: relaxed brown slacks, strange close-toed shoes, and an un-tucked white button-up with blue accents on it. His blonde hair was tied in a low pony-tail reminiscent of my brother's. I turned back and nodded towards his wife, who waved her hand and turned back to stocking.

"Be careful, Yuya." Norami mentioned softly before he beckoned me to follow him. There was a carefully concealed sadness in his eyes as he spoke.

"Have a good time!" His wife cheerily responded, blatantly ignoring the seriousness of his tone. They were interesting. I heard him chuckle to himself as he led me towards the backroom. Once we passed the threshold, we were in a dim hallway with bright crème-colored walls. Normally, most would feel nervous being led around with no explanation, but the moment my eyes met this man's today we both knew I was here for a talk. Norami was a shinobi a while ago, but that didn't mean he forgot how shinobi silently communicated with one another. He clearly had no intentions of harming me and was simply giving me what I needed while he entertained himself in turn, but I was still careful around him, even if I was confident I could take him on in a fight. Being in ANBU made you careful. Alert. All the time. It was just the way my life became. I didn't have to worry about offending him. He already knew. He opened a door at the end of the hallway and we both climbed a narrow set of stairs. He opened another door right at the top landing and I was met with a large, spacious apartment with a nice living room in view.

"Excuse me." I politely spoke as I took my shoes off after him and stepped up onto the wooden floor of his main room. I followed him to a comfortable-looking, brown-leather couch and matching coffee table that reminded me of the chocolate Sakura had smeared on my doorknob when we were still fighting. I smirked to myself at that thought.

"Please, Uchiha-sama, have a seat." Norami invited formally. I wanted to roll my eyes. It was unnecessary.

"Just Sasuke." I replied and sat down as he nodded and walked to the kitchen to boil tea. He did not have a television or any other unnecessary electronics, but he did have an entire wall of pictures in differently colored and shaped picture frames that I studied. I found one of his wedding day with his wife and another of a daughter who looked to be about three or four. I knew the little girl was his daughter because she had his hair and his wife's eyes. She almost looked like an eerily happy Tsunade.

I peered out of the living room and down a visible hall opposite of the kitchen, where I saw three doors… one of them must be his daughter's room, the other his and the third the bathroom. I saw a door knob sticking out at an odd angle and assumed that that was a closet or another bedroom. He had a window in his living room that was positioned just above a rooftop that would be perfect for escaping through, should I need an escape. All the lights in his house were tinted warm, which told me his family had eye-sensitivity to cooler-toned lights, which was common for people with light eyes.

He cleared his throat as he set down a wooden tray with an earthy-green tea pot and matching tea cups on the coffee table in front of me.

"The first door is my room. The second is the bathroom, the third is my daughter's and the fourth door that you can just barely see is the hall closet with cleaning supplies inside. You can relax here, Sasuke-san. We both know I would die at your hands if I tried anything anyway, ne?" He gave me a lop-sided smile as he calmly sat down next to me and pulled a shogi board I had noticed earlier off of a small, square table next to his couch with a clay-colored lamp on top. I shrugged in response.

"It's the nature of the trade." I responded, reciting what we already silently established between us. All shinobi were cautious, observant and slightly paranoid… if they were _good_ shinobi, of course. Norami chuckled to himself and shook his head.

"One of the many reasons why I retired after the fourth war." He informed.

Oh… so it hadn't been _that_ long since he quit… His skills and chakra had just deteriorated quickly because he had lost his will to live that kind of life. Interesting.

"You're not here to discuss me, however. Tell me how your outing went with shinobi-chan." He smiled as he poured us both tea. I checked the liquid with my sharingan carefully to make sure there was no poison in it. It only took me a second to switch my eyes on, check the details of the mixture and then turn them off, but Norami had noticed. He looked amused as he sipped his tea.

"Sakura. Haruno Sakura." I responded. I might as well tell him who the woman of my interest was.

"Ah, the pink medic. She did some amazing things during the last war. It's no wonder you refer to her as a shinobi, instead of a kunoichi. Good choice." He replied and sipped more. He began to set up a game of shogi and I felt comfortable enough to talk after sipping on some tea. He had made a mixture of jasmine-green. It smelled amazing and did wonders to put me at ease. He bought his tea from the same exclusive company I did, which made me more comfortable with talking to him. You can always trust a man that knows his tea. I watched curiously as he set up my side of the board. I was the challenging king. I wonder why he chose to make me the challenger. Wasn't it he who decided to play the game?

"Why am I the challenging King in this game?" Fuck it. Why _not_ ask?

"Is one not always challenging his life's circumstances? Are you not challenging Haruno Sakura to see you as a different man than you once were?" He countered, to my surprise.

I gave him a narrow-eyed look in response. This man was smart; _sharp_ like the edge of a kunai. He may have quit the shinobi life and his chakra may have weakened as well as some of his finer senses, but his mind was still quick. He seemed to know a lot about the dirt between myself and Sakura, although I'm not surprised. News travels fast when a well-known _cute _Kunoichi was left out on a bench all night by her prodigal teammate who happened to be the last of a once-great clan. Information-gathering is the first skill that a shinobi learns anyway. He'd have been dead long ago if he was shit at something as simple as that.

"You know more than you let on." I murmured as I moved a pawn forward. It was my center-most pawn. He moved the pawn in the right-front of his bishop forward. I moved the pawn two spaces to the right-front of the bishop on my side of the board to block his bishop's path, slowly building my arrow-attack to pierce his first row of pawns, hopefully. I pictured an actual army moving in an arrow formation on a battlefield; that was what I wanted to paint with my side of the board. Though, today. I didn't feel the necessity to stick to the plan. Maybe being random would be beneficial today; especially in this game with Norami as my opponent.

"All shinobi do; even the ones who quit." He replied back and I wondered if he'd kill my pawn with his bishop. He didn't take that boring course and instead moved his left silver-general forward one space. Interesting. I moved the pawn on the right-most side of my field forward, just in case I would need to put my knight there. Knights tended to travel across the board quickly, even if they did so in an odd way, they were a good piece to threaten violence with. They could twist the board in amazing ways if they were valued and placed properly.

"You like knights. Do you associate yourself with them?" He asked off-handedly. What kind of psychological question was that? What department was he in before he quit? Intel? What rank was he anyway? Chunnin? Jounin?

"No." I responded easily. It was the truth. He shrugged one of his shoulders.

"Okay. How was your date?" He asked again, back onto the topic.

I looked up at him and shrugged, then sipped tea as I watched him move his front-most pawn further into the field. I wasn't going to rise to his bait on the board. I moved my knight, amazed that neither of our pieces had killed anything yet. With shinobi, shogi got really ugly, really fast. My games with Kakashi were usually that way. We thought in a similar manner, though I noticed Kakashi would attach himself to a piece in each game; as if he was sure that piece would be the one to help him win the game. Sometimes his strategy worked.

"I guess it was good. She's staying with me until the end of this week." Which was basically tomorrow. That's when her lock would be changed. I had one more night with her.

"Why is that?" He asked as he moved the pawn in front of his gold general. He'd probably move his silver general to the front-right next.

"She lost her key at the place we went to." I moved my rook directly in front of my king to defend him, just in case. Norami contemplated the board for a moment. Then gave me a disbelieving look.

"How?" He asked as he moved the pawn that was lagging behind his front-most pawn forward one space. Too bad pawns couldn't kill diagonally-forward… I took my knight and moved it two spaces forward and one space to the left. That's as far as he could go without getting creamed by Norami's silver general. I glowered at that specific piece; Norami had placed him there to counter my knight.

"She drank a lot. So did I. Her purse— _clutch_— fell and it fell out. I picked up her stuff but I missed the key." And that's how two deadly and skilled anbu lose one, stupid key.

"Mhmmm…. So… did you have sex with her?" He asked as if he was asking about the fucking weather. Well shit, _that_ was blunt. Norami moved his pawn past my knight's left and got into my other pawn's face, just as mine heated up at the thought of having sex with Sakura.

"No." I replied as steadily as I could and killed his pawn with mine, capturing his piece as I moved mine forward.

"Mhm… so you're pretending to be a friend when you want more." He moved his pawn in front of the knight I had ignored in favor of killing his last pawn. Shit. My knight was going to die. If I move him forward and to the left, Normai's silver general with kill him and move forward one spot. If I move him to the right, at least he'll take out Normai's pawn before he dies in the next turn. But that would open up his lance to kill my pawn in the same file. If he kills my knight with his bishop, his bishop will be blocked off momentarily. I decided to lose less pieces and moved my knight forward to the left. I'd sacrifice him for now and get what I want later.

"You make me sound like a lecher; mindless sex is not what I want her for. I don't know if she feels the same about me. I almost killed her at one point in the past." I explained, a bit tensely because of the game and because of my own frustration with my situation with Sakura… and maybe even out of embarrassment because I just admitted to a complete and total stranger that I almost killed my teammate… that I was now trying to be with…

"Are you sure you want to put your knight there?" Normai asked, interrupting our conversation.

"I put him there for a reason. Kill him if you want." I grumped back. I didn't like that he was keeping me in suspense. I was ready for him to start treating me like the asshole I am. I didn't care if that's what his opinion of me turned into, but still; if he was going to call me an asshole, I would rather him do it sooner than later. I'm not a big fan of suspense.

"Hmmm… you're an interesting guy, Sasuke-san." Norami explained as he killed my knight. I shrugged and sipped on my tea to relax a little.

"So you almost killed her at some point… but she obviously forgave you if she's staying with you, no?" He asked almost as if he were half paying attention and more interested in the game. He did not take his eyes off of the board. I prayed he wouldn't start dropping the pieces he gained from me anytime soon. A man with three knights was much more dangerous than a man with two knights.

"I don't know. She wanted to stay with Naruto, but I made her stay with me since she lives next to me. They had a '_thing_' in the past. He's always loved her but she knows they're not right for each other. She rejected him." I explained as I moved my right-most pawn forward one more space.

"Mhm… so they had a fight, I'm assuming. Isn't rokudaime-sama seeing the Hyuuga heiress?" He asked as he moved his leftmost pawn to fight with my rightmost pawn. I killed his pawn. His lance killed my pawn in vengeance and I thought, "fuck it, whatever" and killed his lance with mine and now he had one knight and one pawn captured, and I have two pawns and one lance captured. I had a higher chance of winning because I had more pieces to drop later on in the game. My captured pawns could either become sacrificial pieces or gold generals, if I played the game well.

"You're right on both accounts." I murmured back in confirmation as I studied the brutality that just occurred in the rightmost file of the board.

He moved his silver general forward again. I guess he's a silver-general type of guy. Silver generals were key instruments in shogi. No one really wanted to lose them. I was starting to understand why Kakashi liked his odd pieces, like the occasional pawn or the lance. Speaking of lances, I moved my lance all the way to the second row of his camp and promoted it to a gold general. Now his knight and his bishop were fucked. Norami looked amused and smiled to himself.

"Is she happy staying with you, though?" He asked.

He moved his bishop across the board and killed my pawn in its path. Shit… _Shit_. Now his bishop was _really_ close to my camp. I stayed calm and killed his knight with my promoted bishop in his camp.

"I can't tell." I explained. He looked up at me and grimaced.

"Well, is she trying to kill you?" He asked.

I frowned. "No." Not in the conventional way, at least. If things kept up the way they were, my dick would just explode and I'd die that way. It wasn't fair how horny she made me sometimes.

"Then she's happy, boy." He said as he killed my silver general with his bishop and promoted him to a dragon bishop. Before he got the taste of victory, I quickly killed the newly-promoted dragon-bishop with my gold general stripping him of his rank and power. Norami looked distraught, but he had expected my counter-strike. Still peeved, he moved his centermost pawn forward, forgetting about my rook. I killed his pawn with mine. Norami moved his right gold general in front of his king, the same way I had moved my rook in front of my king. I guess he wasn't much of a rook-guy.

"I guess. Kakashi is like a father to me. He says I should go for it but be careful because she's…not the same. She has problems and I can tell." I explained. Norami shrugged.

"This is the same girl that cried about you to Naruto-kun in front of the gate after you left, right?" He asked to clarify. I dropped the lance I had captured earlier into the same file as my left gold general. I left one space between it and Norami's stationary pawn, blocking that section of his board off. He was ignoring my gold general in his camp.

"Yes." I replied. He dropped the knight he stole from me just behind my lance. _Fuck_. My rook was in trouble. I moved him to the left. I was protective of my rook. I don't know why, I just liked the piece since I started playing shogi. The rook was the piece that most players barely cared for, but it was powerful if utilized correctly.

"You should give it time. Make sure she has some sort of feelings for you before you make a fool of yourself and tell her how you feel. Wait for something to happen. You two are teammates are you not? You're bound to experience something life-threatening eventually. That's usually when emotions run high and things you didn't know before become apparent." He shrugged.

So basically wait for kami-sama to deal with it or take it somewhere. Great advice. In essence, I was doing the best I could already. I hated waiting.

_Peck!Peck!Peck!_ I looked over at the living room window where the tapping sound came from. Toushi was back. I looked at the clock hanging above Norami's picture frames. It had only been an hour and a half. It was still early in the morning. Was the surgery done already or was Toushi just bored? Either way I was done here. I stood, leaving the game unfinished.

"We should finish this game later." Norami suggested politely, inviting me subtly to come back if anything should change. It was good to know that I had someone who would actually help me out if I needed advice.

"Aa." I looked at his pictures one more time. It was odd that I hadn't seen his daughter running around the store. Was she an academy student? "If you quit being a shinobi, why is your daughter in the academy?" She _had_ to be there, right? I mean, if she wasn't helping out with the family business—

"She's not in the academy, Sasuke-san… she's wherever they go when they die." Norami answered quietly and my peace and tranquility shattered, replaced with grief, anguish and most unfortunately, understanding. He had lost his daughter, probably recently in the war. It must have been a miracle that his wife survived. That's _right_. Konoha was bombed and half-obliterated during the last war… I had lost my family, and it was painful, but I didn't have children that I lost. Children were innocent. As a parent, you made your own kid. You literally made the kid yourself. It's a different kind of bond to lose. Death leaves behind all kinds of pain and grief, but you suffer differently for what each person was to you. Losing a brother is different to losing a lover, or a friend, or a hero, or a teacher, just like being a parent and losing a child is different to being a child and losing a parent. Parents weren't supposed to bury their children, even in a world as fucked up as this one.

"What was her name?" I asked, my mouth suddenly dry. I was nervous and I didn't know if I was treading on thin ice by asking him. I didn't feel any killing intent, so I guess it was okay.

"Tsubaki." He replied with a sad smile. I looked at him and nodded. I don't know when exactly, but one day I will do something in honor of his daughter. He nodded back; I think he understood what I was thinking.

"Thank you." With that, I shunshinned away, Toushi following me across the rooftops from above.

-X-

So, this chapter ended on a sad note. I don't know why, but I wanted Norami to have a sad backstory. I feel bad, but yeah it had to be done. I don't want you guys forgetting what the war did to people. How did you guys like the shogi game? It might have been described crappily because I was basically playing shogi with myself while I wrote that scene lol. Anyway, any thoughts? Comments? Assumptions? Next chapter will be funnier, I promise. The antics will continue and it will be livelier.

**SPOILER ALERT DON'T READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU'RE NOT UP TO DATE WITH THE MANGA!**

So what was that ass-pull Kishimoto pulled? With Obito and his eyes and giving them to Kakashi? ALSO the last Naruto move is said to be coming out December 2014. DECEMBER GUYS! I hope Kishi does a next-gen thing and we FINALLY see Sasusaku as cannon DAMNIT! Ugh, speaking of which, I'm kind of relieved Kishi put that sweet SasuSaku moment in there. They totally did this eye-sex thing as he held her in his smexy arms. Go Obito! If it weren't for him involving Sakura—like ACTUALLY involving her— the Sasusaku ship would have sunk! And what is it with Kakashi _always_ saving Sakura's ass in this recent arc? My face is like this as I'm reading _o? Because… like… what if Kishi _actually_ ships KakaSaku? Like really. Think about it. She's kind of like Rin. In a sense. And now Kakashi has an epic set of sharingan, so like Sakura's Uchiha wet dream can come true lmfao. I don't know guys, Kakashi gives a shit about her and now he has twin matching sharingan; lolz I think Sasuke has a competitor (lol jk) I don't know what to think about that. I don't know where Kishi is going with this. Seriously. All I can say is that I have something to look forward to (and mutually hate) this December because I'm assuming that by then the story will be over. On one hand, we'll get to see Naruto FINALLY end! (Mind you, I've been watching the show since it came out I'm so ready to see a cannon ending.) On the other… it's going to actually _end_ and I'll be depressed that it's over and not know what to do with my life. *shrug* oh well. Whatever.

**SPOILER OVER! IT'S OVER GUYS! YOU CAN KEEP READING YAAAAAY!**

OKay! Surprise! I think I'm going to do a sequel for KISEKI. I've been brainstorming and I think you guys (based off of your reviews) would really enjoy it! It will be somewhat of a nextgen fic, but it's going to be pretty cool because we'll still get to see where the rookie 9 are in their adulthood. What do you think?

Anyway, I don't know if I did Sasuke well enough in this chapter. I'm a little insecure. ._. I _really really_ hope you guys enjoyed this!

See ya later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ™ Too bad 'cause I'd probably write the female characters better if I did. :p


	23. Sasuke Doesn't Get It

KISEKI

|23|

OH. MY. GOD! So much love from you guys last chapter! *vomits rainbows, fairies, cookies and sparkles with big smile* Thank you all so much!

-X-

Sasuke's student was apparently no different than Sasuke himself. He was just as quiet, just as observant, but I could tell that Udon was that way mostly because he's shy; not because he's wary of others, like his sensei. Heh, it was cute hearing Udon call Sasuke, "Sasuke-sensei". I never imagined Sasuke to be an effective sensei in a million years, but Udon had told me offhandedly that he was joking this morning and that his training was going along really well— in other words, Sasuke was a fantastic teacher. Kakashi-sensei and Naruto would have to see it to believe it.

Anyway, the similarities don't stop there; both Sasuke and Udon have the same dark eyes, and sort of the same clothing style— I noticed they kind of matched on accident today. Needless to say, it was amusing hanging around with Udon, even if it was during a professional examination of his eyes.

After reading over the test results; my hypothesis was proved correct. Udon has a retinal degenerative disease. Judging by the blood test I took, it was certainly hereditary. Both of his parents had the recessive gene so the disease ended up dominant in his body. He frowned nervously and rubbed at his eyes as he sat patiently on the examination bed. I rolled the machine he had been looking into away. Poor kid; I had shined so many lights into his eyes during the testing phase and it had only been a half hour. It would take an hour of careful healing to fix his problem, but at least it was reparable.

"Okay." I cleared my throat and he blearily focused on me. His glasses were on the pristine blue counter, next to the sink behind me. He sort of stared to my left above my shoulder; he was probably seeing a big pink and white blur right now. "You have a degenerative retinal disease." I explained and his young face fell, crushed to hear such a heavy diagnosis. I smiled at him, even though he couldn't see it because this was the part that made me proud to be a medic…

"The diagnosis is as bad as the news is going to get, however. The great news is that I can reverse the damage and bring your sight back to a hundred percent, but in order to eradicate it completely, we'd have to rewrite key parts of your DNA strand that causes the disease. It's not that serious, so instead of me taking forever to do that and keeping you out of the field in the meantime, just make sure you come back for a healing session when your eyes start to degrade again. Always come for regular eye exams so we can keep you in tip-top shape, okay?" I spoke with a smile in my tone and he looked surprised.

"That's it?" He asked, as if he was bewildered that he wasn't a broken human being beyond my help. I laughed at him. "Yes, that's it. I want you to close your eyes. You're going to feel my chakra inside of you so try to relax and just let it do its thing, okay? Don't reject it or it might end up hurting you instead of helping you, okay?"

He nodded and shut his eyes, eagerly. I watched him inhale and exhale and when his muscles relaxed I moved closer to him. I seeped my chakra beneath his skin, bones, muscles and tissues, and finally into the delicate veins and tissues of his eyes.

"Retinal degenerative disease happens because the tissue lining the back of your eyes that sends light signals to your brain is damaged or whittles away over time. Head injuries can exacerbate the condition so you want to make sure you don't go bashing your head around in battle." I explained to give him something to focus on. Staying quiet would only be boring and he'd probably have the urge to fidget.

"Okay." He replied quietly. I smiled; he was so much like Sasuke. I poured my chakra into the delicate tissue behind his eyes –which was thin at this point and had eroded completely in some spots— and willed it to regenerate. With a little push, his cells began to heal and replicate. Normally, that tissue can't replicate itself. Once it's gone; it's gone. That's it. But with precise stimulation from chakra, that can be changed. After I rebuild the tissue behind his eyes, I'll change the shape of his eyes as well and cure the minor astigmatism he has. He'll be able to go without glasses for years before he has to get this done again and by then, hopefully I'll have opened a school for medics and there will be more people around who can operate on delicate parts of the body like the eyes.

We were comfortably quiet for a few minutes until Udon spoke to fill the silence; which for him, I could tell was new.

"…Are you and Sasuke-sensei going out?" He asked curiously.

"W-what!?" My chakra automatically flickered out as soon as I lost focus. It was a natural safety method Tsunade-sama drilled into my body so I wouldn't harm patients in the middle of a surgery on the battle field incase anything surprising happened. It worked wonders in this situation. How could he ask me that so boldly? For a quiet kid, that was one hell of a loud question! Did… did Sasuke and I _look_ like we were dating? Was cuddling at night changing us? I panicked a little; swallowed the dryness in my throat and spoke as authoritatively as I could.

"Of course not. Sasuke is my teammate and friend." Thank god the kid's eyes were closed; my face certainly wasn't as composed as my voice was. I started up my chakra again, ignoring the way my heart was pounding.

**It would be nice if we **_**were **_**going out… **

Shut up. No it wouldn't be.

I continued where I left off from. Ugh, this kid just gave Inner all the fuel she needed… there were now aggravating images in my head of Sasuke kissing me, holding me… she plastered his presence onto the man in my dream who had held me from behind while I was horrifically pregnant. Aggravated, I decided to warn Udon not to do that shit again.

"You shouldn't ask such personal questions in the middle of a delicate surgery, Udon-kun." I chastised as professionally as possible... Seriously, does he ask who his surgeon's lover is when he gets his broken bones healed? That was _dangerous_! …But it pissed me off more than anything because of stupid Inner! "Healing with chakra is a really precise art. One slip-up and you could be injured. Tell me you don't break your medic's concentration _that_ often!?"

Udon shrugged.

"I _never_ do, but thought it would be okay to ask you stuff because Sensei says you're the best medic in the shinobi _world_. Did…did anything go wrong?" He asked nervously at the end.

_What_? Uchiha _Sasuke_ said _that_? ….. …. … About _me_? I stared at the boy's nervous face as I continued healing him. Sasuke really said that? I got suspicious immediately. I don't buy it. Yeah right. The day Sasuke gives me a genuine complement would be the day Tsunade-sama declares that she hates sake.

"Nothing's messed up. You should stop joking around, too. Sasuke's not the kind of pers—

"I'm _not lying_. That's what he _said_." Udon stressed quietly, offended that I didn't take him seriously. I blushed, feeling bad for hurting his feelings. How long ago was it that _I _was seventeen; his age? Did everyone look at me as if I were a kid too? Was it hard for the more mature shinobi to take me seriously as well when I spoke?

"I'm sorry." I replied somberly. "I didn't mean to insinuate that I didn't believe you."

He shrugged again. Time to go find out if Tsunade-sama declared her hatred of sake… I'm really having a hard time believing that Sasuke of all people really said something like that.

"I'm seventeen." He hit the nail right on the head as he spoke in a tone that insinuated that he didn't blame me for not taking him seriously. "But I don't joke around." He added in a no-nonsense kind of way… just like Sasuke. I shook my head and kept quiet as I finished rebuilding the tissue behind his eyes. Well… assuming Udon doesn't have an inner ear problem… what kind of person has Sasuke become to throw compliments like that around? He said I was, 'the best medic in the shinobi _world_'?

_Pffft_! That's… a little over-stated, if you ask me. Tsunade-sama is the one that's the best in the world… I still have a _long _way to go before I accomplish anything significant.

**Maybe Sasuke-kun respects us more than you think… maybe we should just… **_**jump **_**him tonight… **

_Inner!_ What the _fuck_?!

More images of sexy-time with Sasuke-k— I-I mean Sasuke! Jeez! I bit my lip; it's no secret how hot my stupid teammate is… shit.

**What? Who else's complements mean so much? Actually, who **_**ever **_**complements you like that anyway? Would it kill us just to blow him, or maybe have a one-night-stand? **

Naruto says that _all the time_. Now _shut_ up.

Of course she shoots me an image of me blowing Sasuke. I blushed and tried to focus on all the rods and cones in Udon's eyes. Fucking bitch.

**Right, but you know as well as I do that Naruto isn't Sasuke-kun... It will always mean something else when he says things like that than when Naruto says it. We've been over this before. And I'm not a bitch you just don't like the fact that I'm right. Would it hurt to be a bit more than friends? Everyone has sexual needs you know…**

I don't want to listen to you right now.

**Fufufu… Don't forget to fix the overall shape of the eye and the little blood vessels in it. **

I _know_ that!

She snickered, because she knew my face felt hot. Kami-sama this is _stupid_. So what? Sasuke thinks I'm a good medic. He'd seen me on the battlefield during and after the war. Of course I'm a good fucking medic. Anyone would say that if I saved their friend from dying! Anyone would feel hot all over if their stupid other-self showed them vivid images of what fucking a man like _that_ would feel like!

I tried to imagine in what context he said it to Udon anyway and felt the urge to question the boy out of curiosity, but I knew better. I kept my mouth shut. The last thing I needed was Udon mentioning something to Sasuke and making him think I actually care about what he thinks about me.

I don't. I'm over that. My worth is not in his opinion; it's in my own opinion of myself. And no matter what happened in the past, I somehow managed to be just as good as my teammates; to the point where _both_ of the selfish dummies _finally_ noticed. I sighed as I finished healing the strained blood vessels and altered the shape of Udon's eyes. How long have I been in my thoughts so far? A minute later I cut the flow of chakra to my palms. We were done and I could finally go bash my head against a wall. Awesome.

"All done. Open your eyes and tell me what you see. We'll send Toushi-kun out before giving you your last eye test, ne?" I smiled.

The hawk, who had been silently resting on top of the cabinets above the counter, squawked upon hearing his name. I smiled up at him. He had his head turned to the side, a single golden eye watching what was going on. Udon blinked twice and looked… dumbfounded. How long has it been since he saw anything clearly?

"No… way…" He studied my face in a way which was almost alarming. "…I can see each strand…" He almost whispered and I realized he was looking at my hair. I smiled, straightened up and held out my arm.

"Toushi-kun!" The hawk flew to my arm, his talons gripping the sleeve of my labcoat. I was glad it had long sleeves and was made from a decently thick fabric. Even so, I could still feel his claws poking me. It wasn't uncomfortable but I could tell this bird could be dangerous if he wanted to be.

"Go find Sasuke and bring him here. We're done." I murmured to the bird as I opened the blinds and the window to the room, letting the sunlight stream through. Udon seemed to stare at everything as if he were seeing it for the first time. I held my arm out the window, expecting the hawk to take off, but Toushi flew to Udon's shoulder instead. I glowered at the stupid hawk, until I saw it rub its head against Udon's cheek. The boy chuckled and stroked Toushi's back.

"Toushi! I can finally see. Go tell sensei!" The hawk screeched one last time and flew past me, out the window. I gave it a minor glare, upset that I couldn't be as cute with it as Udon was, and turned around towards my patient. I dimmed the lights to the room, allowing the natural light to be the only source of light and made him stand at the furthest end of the room. I asked him to read several characters on several different lines on a paper on the wall opposite of him, next to the blue countertop. He saw with perfect clarity; he could even read the tiniest letters at the bottom row that most jounin screwed up! Satisfied, I marked my procedure down in his file and tucked it under my arm.

"You can train regularly and go about your life as usual. Just make sure you're back here in six months for another exam. You probably won't have to go for a healing session for many years before the degradation starts up again. Just make sure you keep your head injuries to a minimum; don't even let Moegi get at you when she's mad." I advised with a wink. He smiled with just a bit of sadness in his eyes and just then, Sasuke appeared through the window, Toushi landing on the sill right next to him. His eyes fell on me, then onto Udon who actually gave him a genuine grin. Sasuke smirked and jumped into the room. He nodded at Toushi and the hawk poofed away with a final squawk.

"The surgery was a success." Sasuke spoke with certainty in his voice as he looked at Udon.

Udon nodded, still grinning, but his eyes seemed to dart around everywhere. I felt a bubbly warmth in my chest. It was days like today that made me happy that I chose to do what I do. If I had let myself get stuck behind… where would Udon be? Where would all the people that I _did_ help be?

"I told you that you worried for nothing." Sasuke replied almost snobbishly and Udon glared at him and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, sensei."

I chuckled. The two of them were funny to watch. Wasn't "whatever" Sasuke's word?

"All right, I have to get going… it's almost time for Nanako-san's check-up…" I spoke evilly. Sasuke seemed to cringe as I turned to leave the room.

"Uh, wait!" I heard Udon hop off of the exam bed and spun around, curiously. He bowed really low and my heart almost broke at the amount of respect in his posture.

"Thank you so much, Sakura-nee-san!" There was honest gratefulness in his ton.

"You're welcome. Just remember what I told you; six months." I reminded kindly.

"Aa!" Udon smiled as he straightened. Now that the shock wore off he seemed to be really happy.

Sasuke slammed a hand into Udon's light-brown hair and mussed it as the boy swatted at his hands, glaring at him venomously. Sasuke smirked good-naturedly and stopped embarrassing his student, then turned to me with his piercing gaze. I fought the mental wave of dirty images Inner decided to bombard me with; Kami-sama it's like they were both working together _against _me! Ugh!

"I'll find you at lunch." He spoke promisingly and the two of them vanished in a swirl of leaves. I shook my head to myself and strolled out, a hundred percent intent on making all the shots Nanako needs to get as painful as possible for abusing me these last couple of days. She kept _insinuating_ things and asking me what I'm going to name my children. She even asked me if Sasuke was great in bed! Could you believe that!? As if I fucking know!

**He's probably really dominant and sensual...**

Well… he seems to be a pretty passionate person… he _did_ chase his brother all those yea—

…

…

…

Fuck. Nanako is going to suffer. I will find every obscure vaccine on the list; in or out of season; and give it to her…TWICE! That thought in mind, I waltzed to the front desk, only to find Kiya sitting there. She was a veteran administrator so she was _fully _capable of handling the front desk herself… Don't tell me…

"Where's Nanako-san?"

"Oh, she left because her family in the land of Hot Water had some sort of emergency." Kiya replied with her wide, blue eyes. Her pretty blonde hair was in a neat chignon. I _glared _venom at her despite her obvious innocence. She looked like hell had opened up, swallowed her kitten, and was coming right for her next…

"Well… you can send a messenger bird right to Nanako-san and tell her that I said she can't run forever!" I snapped, slamming my hands against the table and I swear if I had fire-natured chakra, flames would have come out of my mouth. Kiya looked horrified as I slammed Udon's file down onto the desk and stomped away towards the recovery ward to make sure the nurses hadn't screwed anything up.

The rumors about me and Sasuke seemed to follow me everywhere I went, so I worked three times as hard as usual, drowning out the embarrassing questions with workwork_work_! By lunchtime I had performed one major emergency operation on a member of the Sarutobi clan. Naturally he was an anbu, but I'm head medic. His identity and all of his medical records were handed over without a fuss. He had an odd poison in his system. Apparently, he had been on a mission somewhere in the land of Wind. The Suna shinobi that brought him here was one of Gaara's top men. He's probably _still_ speaking with Tsunade-sama right now.

I mulled over this information in my head as I walked towards the main desk to meet Sasuke in the lobby. I _really_ didn't want the rest of the hospital staff seeing us today… the rumor mill was churning _hard_ today…

Anyway, he said he'd be by at lunchtime and sure enough, there he was, looking bored in the same grey-ish chair he sat in this morning, as if he somehow knew I would just come to find him instead. He stood up when he saw me and tipped his head in my direction. I nodded back, and when I reached him, he began walking and rounded the main desk…and then to my horror popped into the hallway on its left…

No wait…

Where was he planning on going to get lunch? The cafeteria!? Shit! We can _not_ go to the cafeteria! My coworkers will have more rumors to spread if we go there! Ugh!

"We're eating at the cafeteria today?" I asked, trying to keep the horror and nervousness out of my voice. I really _really_ hate the rumor-mill. It's _so_ embarrassing to have to explain that I am _not_ dating _nor_ fucking Sasuke. Kami-sama damn it… Please Sasuke just get the hint! DO NOT TAKE US THERE!

Sasuke simply nodded and I cringed to myself. Would there be any convincing him to go somewhere else? I pulled at straws from thin air in my panic.

"Um… you know… it would probably be more, y'know economical to _not_ eat there; the food is really expensive compared to—

He turned his head and smirked at me. Was that—

I paused. No _fucking_ way… did he _really_ just _smirk _at me, _playfully_?! Was— was he doing this _on purpose_!? I paused dead in my tracks. He stopped a few steps ahead of me and turned around, giving me a bored look to compete with my death glare.

"We are _not_ eating at the cafeteria." I stated confidently, as if I was telling someone they had picked the wrong answer on a test. I crossed my arms. He raised one, fine dark brow. Fucking Sasuke. He has the nicest eyebrows I have ever seen on a man. Asshole.

"Oh?" He questioned confidently.

"_Oh?" _He didn't even sound like he _believed_ me! Of course we are not fucking having lunch at the cafeteria!

"That's right." I responded, but something dark and fiery in his eyes made me waver… I recognized that determination and had to steel myself against the promise of the argument we were certainly about to have.

"We're eating at the cafeteria today." He simply stated. I glared at him. NO! Why are you fighting me! No! Just _no! _But I couldn't just stomp my feet and whine. I had to give a logical reason as to why we _shouldn't_ eat at the cafeteria otherwise he would probably just drag me there or dump me somewhere and let me starve, which I didn't want to do. Damn him for having to be my source of income! Where the _fuck_ was my paycheck anyway!?

"It's stuffy in here." I icily responded. "I've been stuck here all day, too." I logically reasoned. He doesn't care about being economical, so that was a dead argument, but he gives a shit about my well-being, at least I think he does so the only way out of this is to tell him I don't want to be here.

"Since you've been here all day, you must be tired. The cafeteria is a shorter distance to walk to than the market _and _we can just eat in the courtyard." He replied, just as icily, just as logically. I wanted to _die_ because he defeated everything I just said! His argument was better than mine. I could practically feel the snowflakes drifting off of his body with how coldly he argued my point. I bit my lip and glared at his shoulder because I had nothing else to whine about… I'm a fucking shinobi of the leaf. I can deal with eating in the hospital and it _doesn't_ help that the cafeteria's food is actually pretty good…

I noticed then, that he smirked _again_, but this time is was that smug, look-at-me-I'm-Sasuke-and-I-win smirk he throws around when he's victorious. My rage must have burned a little too brightly because he turned around and continued walking. I wanted nothing more than to grab a rope and haul him back down the hallway where I stood frozen in place, still unwilling to go and parade around next to him. He stopped just at the corner of the hall. A nurse walked past him and threw him a wink and a flirtatious smile that he completely ignored. She didn't look back to check if he ignored her. She must hit on him often if she doesn't want to face the disappointment of his rejection. I waited for her to walk past me. He looked at me, questioningly the entire time.

"Are you coming?" He asked, an annoyed tone to his voice as he crossed his arms.

Hah. Screw him. I could just _not_ eat, who cares about food if I can just have a free cup of disasterous coffee from the employee's lounge! Just as I opened my mouth to tell him my ace-in-the-hole, and to say that I would be going back to work, my stomach growled _so_ loudly it echoed throughout the hall. I blushed, completely mortified and smacked my hand onto my stomach as if to cover up its embarrassing gurgle and he smirked _again_ with that evil, mischievous, victorious glint in his eye!

With one last pitiful half-glare, I gave in and accepted my fate of denying horrendous rumors for the next six months… I nodded in defeat and slowly dragged my feet until I met him at the corner where we continued our death-walk to the cafeteria… I'm surprised that funeral music wasn't playing in the background on my behalf….

Seriously, is it me, or is he doing this on purpose? Maybe he's doing it just because he sensed my hesitation and wanted to see why I was so horrified to go there? Stupid, evil, good-looking Uchiha! I wanted to shake my fist at the heavens, but I refrained from acting like an idiot in public. I almost gulped when I saw the double doors to the cafeteria with their ominous push-bars…

To me they were no longer the doors to a haven that symbolized a blissful hour of relaxation, but the gates to hell itself. Behind those doors would be hospital staff and civilians… the worst mix of people to have when you were trying to avoid having rumors about you spread all over the village. I chewed my lip and slid my eyes over to Sasuke. I wanted to hide behind him and avoid everyone's scrutiny and dissection of our fragile, teetering friendship. He ignored me and pushed the doors open. I flinched at the noise the metal bars made— he might as well have kicked the fucking doors open instead! We walked in. Boom. Just like that, eyes slid towards us, quickly sliding back to where they were before. _Everyone _took note of us… I wanted to disappear.

The next thing flying around the hospital would be "Look! Sakura-sama was seen with her _other_ teammate again!" "Did you see her having lunch with _that_ guy?" "Oh you mean _him?!_" "Yes! _Him!_" Uuuuuuuuugh! Kill meeeeeeeeeeeee. Kill me _now_. I'll take a full-scale invasion _right now_ over _this_. We crossed the large space filled with round tables and comfortable chairs and got into line when we reached the register at the other side of the room. Sasuke peered up at the menu on the big boards above. The lights felt like they were burning me. I felt like I was on display. My ears were _burning_ because I practically _heard_ the latest "Sakura-Sasuke" BS flying around _already_!

"Oh! Sakura-sama! Ah, and Uchiha-sama! How lovely to see you both today! What can I get started for you two?" Fuck. _Fuck_. That's Mia; a twenty-something-year-old with plain, braided, brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. She's working the register and the orders today. She's definitely the chatty type… She pushed her bangs aside as I gave her a crumbling smile. She was _already_ lumping me and Sasuke together. She had said, _"…what can I get for __**you two**_?" Uuuuuuuughhhh…. This… this is going to turn into my worst nightmare. Why? Why me? I sent Sasuke a withering glare _that he ignored_!

"I'll get the number three bento, please." He smoothly ordered. I wanted to reach up and press his Adam's apple in at his next sentence… "…And whatever Sakura wants."

OEOIEHFOEIFHIFHJSHWHIIHEWKJAKSHLJLJLHFKFBKEFHL! GGGRRR!

It's like… it's like… literally my own personal hell. This is hell. I must have died from over-using my chakra because this can't be Konoha. This_ has_ to be hell. _It has to be_. Does Sasuke even realize he's _totally_ giving everyone the wrong impression!? I wanted to melt into a puddle and disappear between the cracks of the blue tiles beneath my feet like Orochimaru melted away into the wood during my chunin exams, creepy bastard.

"I'll have the number two bento, Mia-chan… please…" I responded almost weakly.

"Okay! Any drinks with that?" She smiled and my distress immediately flew over her head. Yep. She was _so_ going to blab about this later… _Did you see? Sakura-chan totally let that guy she was crazy about pay for her today! _I could hear the sentence in her voice already…

Sasuke's eyes snapped to the refrigerator behind Mia, alert as ever. No! No you stupid man! Don't order anything else! Stooooopppppp! I just want it to be over already! Why! Why are you prolonging every—

"I'll have the canned green tea." He turned to me. "Sakura?"

I slightly narrowed my eyes at him. He didn't get it. He totally didn't get it. In fact, he looked mildly confused and again did the raised-eyebrow thing, _so_ _innocently_. Hmph! But _of course,_ what does the mighty Uchiha Sasuke have to ever worry about?! This was _my_ work environment! _I _would be the one suffering! Not _him! _Of course he doesn't get it!

"I'll have a hot green tea, Mia, please." _So I can mercilessly dump____it into Sasuke's lap 'on accident' when I get the chance!_ I deadpanned back, already mad at her before she could even get the chance to speak about all this to everyone else. She gave me a worried look.

"O-Okay… Anything else?" She asked.

"No thank you." Sasuke spoke leisurely and confidently yet again… that _bastard_.

"All-righty then! That's twenty-seven gold!" Mia suddenly seemed a lot more comfortable with Sasuke than with me. Good. 'Serves her right.

And there he goes, pulling out his wallet and paying for _everything_ and giving _everyone_ the wrong idea _again_! The register looked appetizing to bash my head against. I wanted to cry and tear my hair out. My coworkers would be merciless and some of them wuld be out-right vicious. The ones who would get wound up about me dating someone would chat about politics and wonder about my social standing upon marriage to a man of prestigious lineage and the ones who were jealous would try to slander me and ruin my records or try to make a surgery go awry or misinform me in the OR. It would be hell and my poor patients would indirectly suffer because some nurses just didn't know how to be mature.

"All right, Sasuke-sama, your change is twenty-three gold! Please wait at the end of the counter to pick up your items! Your order number is seven!" Mia explained as she handed Sasuke his change and a white slip with our ironic order number printed on it. Seven… ugh… I waved at Mia and she grinned, chirping "Have a wonderful day!" after us as we moved to the right and followed the grey-marble counter to its end. I silently watched the people making our food.

"What's your problem?" Sasuke asked quietly. I snapped my head and looked at him. His eyes were soft, and he only looked mildly annoyed. I blushed, embarrassed for myself more than anything. He… really wasn't trying to embarrass me on purpose... I frowned, feeling guilty that I got so worked up. He was really just being nice.

"Just… nevermind. I'm sorry. I have a migraine and the hospital staff gets annoying sometimes…" My shoulders slumped as I sighed. At least that wasn't a complete lie… The hospital staff _does_ get annoying sometimes but in ways he would never _ever_ imagine because I _know_ he just doesn't see us that way… not that I do either, of course! But anyway, he _really_ almost seemed like he was doing all this on purpose! I felt _really _bad for accusing him in my head… I didn't know what else to say.

"Can you even heal your own migraines?" He asked and when I looked up at him, I laughed. He had the most confused expression I'd ever seen on his face. It wasn't blatant or anything, it was just his way of looking confused. It looked kind of cute on him, actually; I hadn't seen him like that since we were genin.

"Well, yeah, but it's not good to do so. Migraines are no big deal, but I only self-heal if I really need it." I explained.

Sasuke shrugged— I guess he doesn't get the ins and outs of medical ninjutsu; I really wouldn't expect him to, anyway. He was more combat than anything; more ninjutsu and taijutsu than even genjutsu. Iryo-ninjutsu was not his prerogative.

"Eat. You'll feel better." He advised and stared at the cooks with a bored expression as I nodded quietly in response and held my hands together behind my back, completely over my anger at my situation since he had made me laugh. Minutes later our bento boxes were prepared and paired with the drinks we ordered. Sasuke took the bag of items and the plastic tray on which the packaging rested atop and headed towards the doors on the side that lead to the small courtyard outside the cafeteria.

A few nurses and medics milled about the mostly square courtyard. I wasn't blind to the annoying stares, but followed Sasuke anyway as he moved to sit at a small, two-person wooden table beneath a beautiful Sakura tree. I sat across from him and he handed me my bento and my disposable cup of hot tea. Birds flitted through the tree, chirping away. I smiled, and remembered why this courtyard was always utilized by the physical therapy unit— It was an _incredibly _optimistic and relaxing environment.

I opened my bento box— inside of it were three pieces of tuna sashimi, a yellowtail sushi-roll, a garden salad and a small lump of rice with some steaming pieces of grilled chicken covered in a mouth-watering sauce next to it. I fished around in the plastic bag for a pair of disposable chopsticks as Sasuke opened his bento box. It was the same, but instead of tuna sashimi, he had salmon.

"Itadakimasu!" I quietly exclaimed with a smile— I was actually pretty hungry and my stomach rumbled one more time before I dug into the salad and crunched relentlessly on the greens and ginger dressing covering them. Sasuke pristinely ate his salmon, like a cat elegantly licking its paw atop a steep fence. I envied him. Wasn't he as obnoxiously hungry as I was? I felt like a wild animal compared to him, damn it. I wondered if he trained with Udon after they left the hospital or if he told him to go home and that's why he wasn't really tired-looking?

"Didn't you train with Udon after you left?" I asked curiously.

He swallowed and slowly, cracked open the tab of his can, then brought the can to his _damnable _good-looking lips and sipped _really_ slowly—aggravating me in the process because he managed to make even _eating_ look sexy— exhaled once he got his green-tea fix settled and nodded. "Aa. I did."

Yep. I shouldn't be surprised. _Of course_ he'd look unruffled. Sasuke _woke up_ sexy on a daily basis… _Why_ would a little light training damper his looks? I nodded somberly and went back to shutting my stomach up. We were both quiet. For a long time, actually.

"Do you…" He spoke so quietly, for a second I thought that maybe I had just caught a snippet of someone else's conversation. I looked around but there was no one really in ear shot, and Sasuke's voice was unique. It was he who had said something; I was sure of it.

"Eh?" I asked him curiously. "Did you say something?"

"Nevermind." He went back to eating. I looked at him strangely, wondering why his face was rosy and shrugged. Maybe the heat outside is getting to him; it is pretty hot. I continued munching happily on my tuna sashimi, when a familiar blonde kage-bunshin crashed into the courtyard _right next to our table_, startling the _hell_ out of Sasuke. Speaking of which, said Uchiha was already on his feet, chidori-senbon in hand, and sharingan blazing, ready to delete the Naruto-clone from existence— he must not have sensed him or something, but to be honest I was focusing on other things too so I didn't sense Naruto coming either. The blonde sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his head as he stood awkwardly next to our table. He was wearing his short-sleeved, white yondaime-cloak today— a memento from his father. I smiled tenderly at the jacket— Tsunade-sama had fished it out from somewhere in the kage tower and handed it to him right after the war ended.

"Eh-heh, jeez, teme, relax, na?" The clone lazily spoke. Sasuke looked like a cat with its fur raised on-end. He growled out a sigh and sat back down, a little bit too forcefully, showing Naruto just how unappreciated his surprise-dive-bombing into the courtyard was. I continued to eat, though this time faster, because Naruto never just showed up like that unless there was an urgent mission for someone to go on. In case it's me, I want to be full while I get my stuff packed up. Ignoring the stares of my coworkers watching and whispering from their seats, I waited for the news from the clone. Naruto-bunshin grinned and complemented me first, of course.

"You look nice Sakura-chan, did you do something with your hair?!" He complemented. Actually yes, I brushed it until it was smooth this morning before I left. That's what gave it its sexy/piece-y look while it was twisted up today. I smiled at Naruto while chewing and nodding at the same time.

"Get to the point." Sasuke growled. He was glaring at Naruto instead of eating… tsk, tsk tsk… he'll regret that later.

"Oh right! Baa-chan needs you both in the tower asap-ttebayo! She says it's an important mission. Ah, I'm on a date with Hinata-chan right now, and the other me that was in the tower was already told to disappear so I won't be there when you guys get there! Ja-na!" Naruto grinned and disappeared in a puff of fluffy, white smoke. I gulped down the rest of my lunch as Sasuke glared at his half-finished bento.

"You knew." He accused with an almost-pout as he watched me finish off the last of my chicken. I grinned at him, knowingly. Yes, I had an idea as to why Naruto was there and that's exactly why my hunger was satiated and his obviously wasn't.

"Naruto never crash-lands into the hospital like that under _any_ circumstances… if he's ever here at all to begin-with." I explained with a nonchalant shrug that I _hoped _looked cool and threw my garbage into the plastic bag on the table. Sasuke shook his head and stuffed his partially-eaten lunch into the bag as well, albeit begrudgingly. I took off for the rooftops as Sasuke tossed the garbage into a nearby trashcan and followed suit. We were at the tower in minutes. Once inside the office, I found Tsunade leaning against the wall behind her desk, looking out of the large viewing-window at the village. A bird flew past the window… She _wanted_ to ignore us for just a few more minutes. I had a sinking feeling in my gut… Sasuke took a breath to speak, and I— not having seen shisho this way since Jiraiya-sama died— grabbed his wrist. He snapped his head to me instead, and I defeated his heated glare with a shake of my head. He seemed to understand and snapped his mouth shut.

"It's all right, Sakura. I have an important mission for you both." I dropped Sasuke's warm wrist and turned to my shisho. This was odd. I had specifically requested not to _ever_ be put on the same team as Sasuke on a mission _ever_ again. "Don't look at me like that. If you haven't killed each other in this last week, then you're both good to be on a team together." She snapped, as if reading my mind. I bit my lip and looked off to the side, embarrassed. We all knew I was still sore about having to rely on someone else other than myself.

"What rank?" Sasuke asked, professional and cold as ever. I have to admit he makes being cool really easy even after he royally fucked up during his teen years.

"S-rank. Anbu." Tsunade spoke. My eyes narrowed. That was dangerous… and Sasuke was a combat specialist… meaning shit was going to get _ugly_… And I was on break from the gritty missions too… "The reason why I need you, Sakura, is because the mission is a medical one."

Would it be weird if I said I _felt_ the confusion radiating from Sasuke? I wasn't surprised. Since when was a medical mission S-ranked under the Anbu category? Most people didn't know, but ANBU missions ad their own classifications. D-ranks were usually espionage missions. C-rank were usually escort missions. B-ranks were usually anything from infiltration to Assassination. A-ranks were assassinations and S-ranks were… fucked up… they were sick. It was usually a clean-up of some sort or a mission where plenty of other ANBU or jounin had failed in succeeding before. My fix-people missions were usually solo D-ranks because I could take down an army of rogue if need be. All I had to do was get to my destination and then restructure hospitals and fix patients of different nations. It was only ANBU-level because politics were involved and I was going in by myself. I haven't had an S-rank in a _while_… I hoped it wasn't another clean-up… please… please don't be like the previous missions… please…

I felt the bile churn in my stomach and steeled my expression.

"Don't looked so startled, Uchiha. Anyway, you remember re-writing Kabuto's DNA, correct?" She turned her attention back to me. Rewriting DNA? I nodded… confused as to why she was asking me this question. Yes. I had managed to bring Kabuto's body back to its original state after all the fucked up shit he had done to it because I was _tired_ of the mercy-killings...

"Uh… yes…" I replied slowly, wondering if Sasuke was supposed to even be allowed in on this kind of information.

"I need you to do that again for a serious case in a little town just north of Lightning country. The mission is so highly ranked because of who the patient is. You will not be told his identity, however."

What? That's… _vague _but I relaxed because this was a mission to _save _a life; an _important_ life, not end it.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke seemed to tense at Tsunade-sama's official tone. That tone could tense up even former root members like Sai.

"Aa?" He responded and Tsunade smirked, a twinkle in her eye.

"I need you to stay back after I dismiss Sakura. This will be your first mission as an ANBU captain."

"E-E_eeeeeeh!?_" I looked at Tsunade wide-eyed. Was she _crazy_!? Putting _Sasuke_ in charge of _me_!? Has she _not_ been listening to _anything_ I've been saying these last four years!? "H-hang on here—

"No denials. No refusals. No arguments. I am sending you because you're the only medic in history that has been able to rewrite a genetic sequence successfully and Uchiha is the only shinobi capable of adequately watching your back while you do so. Naruto will be sent to you both soon after the council holds its annual meeting, but until then you both _will_ behave. You _can't_ screw this up. Do you hear me?"

Her tone brokered no arguments but I was about to unleash my secret weapon: my puppy-face. I learned it from Akamaru. She just _couldn't_ do this to me. I was planning on getting _away_ from Sasuke! Not spending more time with him! On a freaking _really_ long mission too! It took _months_ to re-write Kabuto's fucked up genes!

"Understood." Sasuke's cold, official tone dereailed my puppy-dog-eyed sabotage plan. I looked at him owlishly… and blinked… once… twice…

…

….

Wait… he was actually _agreeing _to this insanity? We had _barely _been friends for a week and _already_ Tsunade-sama is just _assuming_ that everything will be peachy the _entire_ grueling way to a town north of Lightning country— which is _far_ from Konoha— in some unnamed territory? Naruto wouldn't even be there for the journey to crack jokes and lighten the dismal mood! I was about to open my mouth and argue, but it was clearly two against one and Tsunade-sama was glaring at me; I shrunk back when my eyes met hers to debate this. I snapped my mouth shut and nodded, wondering when in hell Tsunade-sama and Sasuke started to get along…

"Is the patient in a critical state?" I asked quietly and unclenched my tight fists. Patients first; drama later.

"Somewhat." Tsunade-sama shrugged.

I frowned. It was not like her to be so vague… how important was this person? Will I be working on the daimyo or something? Perhaps the Daimyo of Lightning Country is the one that's ill? But no, how would they even allow Sasuke of all people into their territory? The Raikage can't stand him even _if_ stem cell research helped re-grow the arm my Uchiha teammate _stupidly _cut off. He was wary of me when I traveled there to do the operation just _because _I was Sasuke's former teammate and didn't happen to be sunshine-and-rainbows Naruto… Maybe the Water daimyo was sick and was moved North of Lightning Country for safety or health reasons? I could only speculate…

"You'll get there before things get bad, I promise." She spoke with a heavy tone. "Pack immediately. You both leave in an hour." From her desk drawer she pulled out a red hitai-ate— a replacement for the one I left in my apartment. She tossed it my way and I caught it. After the forehead protector she threw me a bundle and by its weight I recognized it as an anbu uniform, wig and mask in my size.

"Dismissed, Sakura." She spoke and I nodded once and turned around.

"Do you still have the key?" Sasuke asked quietly before I could take off. My hand flew to the side pocket of my form-fitting pants. I felt the tiny key there and nodded at him from over my shoulder. He nodded back at me from over his. I left, heart pounding a mile a minute. Somewhere in some forsaken little village an important man was dying of an incurable illness— most likely genetic— and his only hope was me… I flew towards Sasuke's apartment at top speed, intending on stripping and changing as fast as possible once I was safe behind his bathroom door…

…I hope you're watching Neji… I won't let _this_ life slip through my fingers…

-X-

Oolala! Mission time! I love missions! And I _love _it when Sasuke trolls Sakura. It's like my _favorite _thing to write! Lol! It's just so easy for him to freak her out and he does it all with that infamous Sasuke-finesse we all love to read about! UDON! UDON BEING A CASANOVA LOL! Trying to hook his sensei up ;) let me tell ya Sasuke has found himself an awesome student. Can you guys guess what's going to happen? I bet you can't! LOL GOD I'm so excited because here is where the fun starts! This is where I personally feel the story starts to become exciting, plot-wise and sets things up for the sequel, because it's decided and I _definitely _am writing one!

Anyone notice how Sakura is drinking a little less and being a little less somber about her failures? That last line was specifically to show that she had made a slight improvement in Sasuke's presence, but only because he serves as a great (and fucking really sexy) distraction. Lol who loved Mia at the hospital cafeteria? And oh! What did you guys think of Udon's surgery! I did some research on degenerative eye diseases and tried to keep the healing process simple but equally informative!

**SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE MANGA!**

Oh. My. Dear. God. Kaguya was the most epic waste of time as a villain. What the _fuck_ is up with Madara acting all dead and shit lying on the ground!? That Naruto/Sasuke teamwork action shit that Sakura got in on! OMFG! Did anyone else _love_ the way Naruto told off that mama's-boy black zetsu? Fucking scumbag. I'm glad he got deleted. I realllllyyyyyyy hope that the edo-hokage's stick around for a while— at least Minato! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EDO ITACHI BACK TO LIFE AND THEN MIRACULOUSLY BRING HIM BACK WITH THE RINNEGAN!? PLEAAAAAASE!? My bro needs to see the happy ending, or at least get one of his own ;) if you know what I mean ;) ;) ;) I mean, come on, 'dude goes through all that shit, _and _saves Konoha like fifty-thousand times; someone hand the man a blowjob, please! Has anyone heard of Naruto: The Last Movie yet? It's being released in December of this year signifying the end of Naruto! All the characters are going to be a little older!

OMFG!fhehfeiwhffhelhfh! I can't wait! Ah I wanna see Sasusaku become cannon! T_T It would make my life complete, but Kishimoto specifically hates me, and we've established this long ago, so I doubt it'll happen, but for what it's worth I'm _impressed_ with the improvements on the female character designs for the movie. Kishimoto looks like he really learned how to draw female characters and hopefully, with that he'll understand how to write them better as well! Anyway lots to look forward to in December. Lots.

**SPOILER OVER YOU CAN CONTINUE READING!**

I appreciate so warmly the love I've received from the last chapter. Really. I'm so happy most of you like Norami. I wanted this chapter to be a little funnier to offset the sadness of the last chapter. I really hope you guys liked this one too, even though it's from Sakura's still-shitty POV. For some reason I just can't get her right but I need to keep the POV's separate for the future of KISEKI to work out and blend seamlessly into my other, yet-untitled sequel fic. Gah! So much to do! :D Anyway again, thank you all again for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following this fic and me as an author! I appreciate every kind word, sincerely! –hearts-!

-X-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ®™ This work is purely for amusement and entertainment of others. I make no money writing this!

See ya later, Space Cowboy!


	24. The Worst Mission Ever

KISEKI

|24|

Brace yourselves… Winter is coming. I'm so ready for the snow-pocalypse. If we have blizzards, bring it bitch! I have my snow boots, my jacket, _so_ many sweaters and sweatpants; you have no idea. All I need is to purchase a pair of anti-snow-pocalypse gloves and some good ol' snow tires and I'm good to go. Ain't no one taking me down this winter! I wish season five of Game of Thrones would come out during the winter. It would be so fitting lol. I'll settle for the Walking Dead, for now, though, just to see what the hell happened to Beth and if Darryl will find her because even though it was weird, they were kind of cute together in a dysfunctional sort of way. Is it me, or do I just like dysfunction? _ Speaking of dysfunction…. Let's get back to SASUSAKU. This chappie is from Sasuke so I hope you guys enjoy it!

-X-

The door shut after Sakura left and I felt her chakra flicker away soon after. I thought about how anxious she looked when she found out the rank for this mission was "S" and classified as "medical"… I wonder if that's where here nightmares come from… the types of missions like the one we're about to go on must haunt her in some way. She _did_ look relieved when she found out she needed to fix someone instead of _end_ someone… maybe the death haunts her?

Anyway, here I was…standing in this room with the one woman I was sure hated me the most… or at least, I thought so. Now, there were plenty of women that hated me; Karin stepped around my presence like a wary cat nowadays if she ever saw me at all— no surprise there I stabbed her through the chest— even though she seems like she's over what had occurred between us. I was semi-sure Sakura resented me for some reason… and let's not forget the countless noble-women that had slapped me for rejecting their offers of joining their grubby, royal families that _ached_ for my genes and the others that were dejected or angry because I fucked them and left the next morning. This woman— Tsunade— _hated_ me, and _certainly_, for fucking up her favorite student and pissing on her dreams of a happy future… The grand question here is, why in hell is she giving me an opportunity to spend more time with Sakura? I figured she would want to get me away from her as fast as possible…

The big-boobed blonde sighed as she crashed into her chair and pulled out a bottle of sake from some secret scroll-compartment in her desk I'd never noticed before. I watched in awe that she would disrespect her grandfather's desk with her habit… openly… in front of a shinobi, though I guess it doesn't matter that I'm here. She doesn't see me as a shinobi; she sees me as dirt. Useful dirt, but still, dirt. She pulled out a dish and then looked at me; sized me up, actually. She looked like she was calculating or estimating some ability of mine as if she could see it through my posture or on my skin.

"Want some? This is going to be one hell of a mission." She offered in a world-weary tone, but she still _offered_…

Why the sudden niceties? I shook my head.

"I don't like to drink." Unless it's with Sakura…_alone_ with Sakura in a place neither of us are well-known.

"Suit yourself." She poured sake into the lonely dish and took a sip that looked like it was relieving to her. I held back my cringe. It was unhealthy to be _that_ dependent on alcohol. I whispered a prayer to kami-sama and my brother, and Shisui and Obito, and hell, even all the deceased kage to watch over Sakura and make sure she _never_ got _that_ addicted… no offense to Shodaime since it's _his_ crazy granddaughter that's currently making me cringe. "Listen. I know you're loyal and I'm not _stupid_. I see the way you look at Sakura."

Well, fuck. That was straight to the point. I narrowed my eyes slightly, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't feel my face get hot. I didn't know I _looked_ at Sakura in a certain _way_… What was her point?

"I won't tell you who the client is, either, so don't even bother asking. All I will say is that this mission— though important for reasons you'll only understand when you get there— is going to send Sakura over the edge. I need you there because right now, for some reason, you're really the only friend she allows close. I don't know if that's because you both spent time bonding because she lost her key or if she was willing to let you back into her life eventually, at some point. Either way, you're a part of her life, so that's why you're going. That's why I'm trusting you."

All… right? I waited for her to continue, shocked that Sakura had actually pushed everyone away these last four years. What the fuck was wrong with her? Wasn't she hanging out with Ino at least? Weren't those two best friends and old rivals or something? Wasn't liking and crying over the same guy supposed to bond women together forever or something stupid? I didn't know that this is what has been going on… that it was _that_ bad… Kakashi wasn't lying when he said what he said… that I might be the last person left that could do something about the way she's become…

I swallowed the pit in my stomach and waited for Tsunade to continue. She sucked down the rest of the booze in her dish and tossed it to the side, the ceramic clanging against the lacquered wood of her desk as it spun, slid and hit a leather cup filled with four quills. She sipped right from the bottle… maybe I wasn't the only one disturbed by Sakura's behavioral changes… Did Tsunade feel guilty about whatever had happened to make her that way? I frowned. She opened some drawer and tossed me a scroll. I caught it, but kept my eyes on her.

"The details are in there, but if you want a summary; basically, the patient will be the one opening the door for you when you arrive on-location. You will place your hands into a tiger sign, and listen to the man's response. "Hibiscus" is the key word. He will use it somehow. Only the patient knows the key word so you'll know it's him when you hear him say it. Sakura is to begin working on him as immediately as possible, understood? If anything happens have either one of your snakes or hawks reverse-summon and we'll talk through them." She instructed, suddenly serious again despite the blush I could see forming on her cheeks from the alcohol. I could tell how delicate this mission was going to be just by how carefully she worded everything.

"Understood. I'll give you an extension of my snake scroll." She nodded somberly as I pulled the spare, pinky-width scroll from a seal in one of my wrist guards and tossed it back to her. I pocketed the scroll she tossed me before as she grasped onto mine. "It doesn't work with blood. The snakes are particular about that. Just carry the scroll and a snake will contact you if necessary." I explained. She nodded and shoved it in some pocket on the inside of her shirt. Her breasts were so big it looked like she had just shoved the scroll into her bra. I resisted the urge to cringe… again.

"You call the shots on this mission, so don't be afraid to pull rank on her if necessary. I've already promoted you to captain. Don't ever forget that I'm putting my full trust in you." She said in a weighted, serious tone. If I fucked up I was done for life. I understood that, but not without some suspicion.

I narrowed my eyes, curious as to who the patient of this mission was. If she was trusting _me_ to watch over Sakura instead of Naruto… it was serious. What do you even say to that in this situation? I once clearly stated that I wanted to _annihilate_… yes, _annihilate_, not destroy, not attack, not kill, _annihilate_ Konoha. For a hokage who had known of my worst crimes to turn around and actually give an ex-international-criminal trust of this caliber made me a little nervous, suspicious even. Is this a suicide mission? Is she sending me and Sakura that far North so that Sakura could mercilessly murder me for all that I've done in the past? She smirked, probably expecting me to have these kinds of thoughts.

"Don't be suspicious. You'll understand why I sent you and why I'm trusting you when you meet the patient." She explained. "Just stay undercover and don't let any Kumo nin see under your mask. You're still not appreciated in Raikage's territory." She assured and advised.

"Understood." If she was going to trust me… I might as well trust her. I could tell by her expression and demeanor that I was her last or best option. She had a lot to lose as well, apparently. Her entire demeanor and vocabulary indicated that failure was not an option. If I fail… if Sakura and I fail, we might as well not go back to Konoha at all.

"Good. Dismissed."

It didn't take me long to shunshin to my apartment. The bathroom light was on, so I knew Sakura was in the bathroom. My adrenaline started going once I heard her shuffling quickly into her clothes. It was mission-time. Shit gets serious _now_. This is an S-rank.

"Sakura! It's me!" I called into the apartment as I ducked into my room and shut my door.

"I'm almost ready!" She called to me through the wall. She sounded muffled but she was loud enough for me to get what she was saying. She would hear me too if I yelled loud enough.

"Pack the provisions! They're in the pantry!" I instructed probably unnecessarily since Sakura knows that pantry better than I do. I threw my shirt off and fished around my closet for the sleeveless anbu vest I owned. The shirt I threw hit the wall and slid down into the hamper beneath it.

"Hai taicho!" Sakura drawled lazily and I smirked to myself. She's already challenging my authority… though the mission didn't officially start until we left those gates. I ran through my mind every procedure I remember Yugao going through with us. I tried to pull back all the information Kakashi was willing to disclose on his methods of being a captain— _fuck_ where's my shirt!?

A shriek from the kitchen startled me into action. Not giving a _shit_ that I was half naked, I flew out of my room because that was _Sakura _screaming and my adrenaline was already rushing through my body in response to the mission-prep. Kusanagi was drawn against our attacker's throat, next to the kunai, pointed at his gut via Sakura. I relaxed once my sharingan met Kakashi's lazy stare. His hands were up and his one, dark eye was wide, but I could feel his chakra roiling beneath his skin. He had just barely stopped himself from electrocuting Sakura back. It was just instinct for all of us: attack when surprised; defend when surprised. We all slowly stepped away from each other. My pulse was still racing a mile a minute and Sakura, sporting a realistic, _black_ wig, released the sigh I wanted to heave.

"Whoah, you two are pretty wound up." Kakashi drawled once his chakra was back under control.

"_Kami-sama, _Kakashi-sensei_!_" Sakura hissed. I smirked condescendingly at him, deciding I'd let her rip him a new one for what he did. "Don't sneak up like that! I was grabbing provisions and your chakra surprised me!" I turned around and started to retreat back to my room, scrunching my nose at Sakura's wig as I turned my body past her. She looked plain with black hair, even if it was silky and long. I liked her pink hair better.

"I just came by to give Sasuke some captain-advice. You didn't have to almost skewer me, though I understand the adrenaline rush…" I could tell, without even looking at him, that Kakashi was giving Sakura his crinkle-smile.

"Fantastic, I'm sure Sasuke needs advice on how to read erotic novels in public while acting like he doesn't care." Sakura sniffed and I resisted a snicker as I dashed past the threshold to my room.

"Ouch, Sakura-chan; don't be so cruel to your old sensei." I heard Sakura snicker and continue rustling through my pantry as Kakashi shunshinned into my room before I slammed the door shut. Old, my ass. That was still an incredibly fast shunshin. I slipped kusanagi back into its sheath and continued rifling through my closet. Found it; fucking finally. I pulled the form-fitting, sleeveless shirt over my head and zipped it tight around my neck up the side. I kicked off my boots and stripped off my pants, not giving a rat's ass what snide remark Kakashi would say about my blue-silk boxers.

"Ah, those most be comfortable to run in." He commented.

"Hn." I didn't have time for bullshit. I found the still-loose-but-tighter-than-usual standard anbu pants and threw those on over my boxers, pulling the waistband tight by its drawstrings and hiding the neat bow I made under the shirt. I found the vest easily enough, and slipped it over my shoulders, clicking the buckles at my pectoral muscles shut. I grabbed my black arm guards with my seals stitched on the insides and slid them over my fingers and up onto my biceps where they stopped just beneath my tattoo. Still holding onto my navy wrist guards, I transferred the mission scroll from the seal I stored it in, into the seal on the arm-guards I was wearing now.

"I see a lot of feminine things in your room, Sasuke." We both knew he already knew what happened. Why was he bothering with this? I wanted an organized to-do list for anbu captains since I hadn't been formally briefed on how to be one, not an inquiry into my fucking personal life.

"You know what's going on." I deadpanned coldly. I found my cat mask and slipped it onto the side of my head, then did a complicated, but subtle henge to hide the cowlicks on the back of my head. Unless some motherfucker in Lightning has the Byakugan or the Sharingan they won't be seeing through it. I would normally forgo the henge if the mission wasn't in Lightning, but unfortunately Sakura and I have very recognizable hair. She needed that wig and I needed the henge. It was funny if you thought about it.

"Is it more than what I assume is going on?" He asked in a low voice, so she wouldn't hear us from the kitchen. Well… that depends on what he assumes is going on… But I don't have time for this shit.

"She lost her key." I explained plainly. Well… _we_ lost her key, technically, but I didn't have time to give him details so I kept the explanation short. Kakashi nodded slowly. He wasn't buying it.

"Then why does your bed smell like you both?" He asked curiously, innocently, even. But I knew better. He thinks we're fucking. I turned red. How do I explain we're sleeping together but not _really _sleeping together?

"It's complicated." I replied, hoping he'd get it. But he didn't. He took it the wrong way. His next sentence is tight, like he's holding back from ripping _me_ a new asshole.

"Have you been indecent towards her?"

"_No_. Otherwise I would've had my door open when you arrived." I snapped and half-growled, but I provided him with the honesty and proof he needed. What the _fuck_ is it with him assuming I'm a piece of shit like Yamanaka? _I _came to _him_ because _I _was worried Sakura was going to get used and thrown away. Why would I do to her what I wouldn't want another guy to do to her? It makes no fucking sense but I don't have the fucking time to be pissed and over-analyze it. Do I even have everything I need? I patted my forehead. Fuck. Boots. I bent down and slid my legs, pants and feet into them.

"Very complicated indeed." He mused. I glared at him. If he came here just to fuck with me because he thinks I don't have time to give him consequences to account for, I'm going to leave him with a big, black and blue parting gift. He sighed.

"My cute little students have all become so serious…" He spoke wistfully.

"Shut up; you're not _that_ old." I growled, only feeling half-bad for the impatient attitude I was giving him. He should've expected to get burned, however, especially if he came here knowing full well he would be playing with fire. You just don't screw about with anbu right before a mission. And he's really not "old". He's still fucking dangerous if he wants to be. I'm sick of hearing him whine about his age.

"I came here to tell you one thing." He stated seriously as he leaned against the wall next to my window, _finally _getting to the fucking point of this visit. I fell silent in response, arms at my sides. Kakashi gave me the crinkle-smile. I felt twelve and uncertain again, but only for a second. He never gave me that smile when we were alone unless he was actually trying to give me wisdom.

"Those who break the rules are trash—

"_but those who abandon their comrades are even worse than trash." _We recited the second half together. He smiled and even had the gall to reach over and ruffle my semi-henged-hair. I let him do it; I didn't even care. He had pulled the nostalgia card on me and I fell for it like a love-struck preteen girl falls for the popular boy in class.

"And the ones who abandon their friend's feelings are even worse than that." He explained with weight in his words. He had never preached that part to us and it felt almost symbolic and secret to be privy to it now of all times, in my adulthood. "Use your best judgment. Tsunade-sama has faith in you." He finished and let his arms drop to his sides.

"That's it?" Leave it to Kakashi to give me cryptic messages instead of reminding me of what to do in worst-case scenario situations. Like what if we get there and the guy is dead but we were delayed because of the fucking attacks we've been experiencing at the border? Who gets blamed for that? The last thing I want to deal with is, "You didn't plow through your enemies fast enough, Uchiha!" I might break her window if that scenario ever ends up playing out…

"That's it." Kakashi nodded and then disappeared in a swirl of leaves. I walked through my bedroom door and found him ruffling Sakura's wig. She groaned because he displaced it on her head. Half of the long locks were in her face and she looked like some tribal tree-spirit for a moment.

"Ugh, Kaka-senseiiiiii…" She wined as she reached up to fix it.

"Remember to seal the wig into place, Sakura-chan. Be a good girl for Sasuke." He warned in a paternal tone that heavily hinted he was just messing with her. I snickered as I saw the rage flash in her jade orbs through the curtain of fake hair across her face. She growled, swung at him, the wig _still_ misplaced, and Kakashi ducked, then spun into a shunshin, making his exit. I shook my head as she stood there.

"I'll deck you when I get back-shannaro!" She shouted at where Kakashi stood just a second ago. I could practically see the steam coming from her ears; it was amusing. She turned around and tossed a can of iced green tea at my face for laughing at her. I caught it skillfully before it hit my eye.

"Stop _snickering_ it's not funny!" She growled and I realized then that I _had_ just chuckled at her. I shrugged and sealed the can into an obscure seal at the top of my wrist guards that I kept empty specifically for food.

"Your rations are on the table. Hurry _up_. We have to be at the gates in _five minutes_." She insisted and I noticed she was impatiently tapping her finger on her exposed bicep while her arms were crossed.

I gave her a withered look. Was there really a point to hurrying?

"Sakura, _I'm _your captain. I don't care if we leave five minutes late." I explained. It's true, I wouldn't write it in the report. On a mission, your captain's report could get you into trouble. I would write nothing on mine that would incriminate her for minor tardiness. I can now see why your teammates during your genin years can't be your captains in ANBU. Your bonds _force _you to let a lot of shit slide and on an S-rank that could be the difference between life and death… Tsunade was not only trusting _me_, a former traitor and pardoned international criminal, she was breaking every standard operations code that exists. I wasn't even briefed for the level of authority I was given. If the new council asks, will she just tell them, "Oh, Uchiha Sasuke is a genius; I didn't _have to_ worry…" or something lame like that? Sakura glared at me, with a blush.

"Well then, _taicho-sama_, you should leave on time _anyway_, nevermind the fact that this mission involved a beyond-sick patient that _I _have to heal!" She sneered and then snapped as she pointed a finger at me. If she was holding another can of green tea I'm sure she'd have thrown it at me a second time. She was in medic-mode and missions always made everything much more tense, not to mention that it was known without being stated between the two of us that this was an _incredibly _important mission. I rolled my eyes, sealed the rest of my portion of the rations into my arm-guard and then placed my cat mask onto my face. In response, Sakura secured her wig with a jutsu and slid her tiger mask onto her face. Seconds later we were gone in a flurry of leaves and cherry blossom petals.

-X-

The run North was quiet. It was so quiet I was actually fucking stressing about it being quiet. Sakura said _nothing_ all day and we had an entire _week_ before we got to the shitty town we were supposed to meet our patient in. Aside from telling her the keyword and showing her the address and the mark on the map inside the mission scroll, Sakura and I said nothing. We were booking it to Lightning country faster than a drug addict ran to meet his supplier for more of what he needs... and we were silent. By nightfall we had reached the unmarked territory between the former Sound country and the Hot Water village and we probably broke the fastest recorded time that it took to get there. I had resorted to using more chakra by now and my legs were getting tired. Sakura wobbled on one branch and I stopped to steady her. Slipping my arm around her waist and resting a palm on the hip bone I could feel through her pants was almost natural at this point. An easy breeze swept over us; it was mildly cold. It would get even colder the further North we went. Past Kumo we'd need to get our cloaks on, if not sooner. I could see Sakura's shoulders rise and fall with every breath she took. She was trying _hard_ not to show any weakness. I glared holes at her dark head of hair.

"We rest. Now." I ordered smoothly.

"No, I'm fine." She argued, but her voice was just barely concealing her exhaustion. I could feel her pulse race through her arm-guard in her wrist. We're fucking resting whether she likes it or not.

"Bullshit. We're resting." I repeated and dropped down to the ground below. Sakura dropped down silently next to me, arms at her sides. I had my hands focused in a tiger sign. I was expanding my senses, trying to see if there was even a slight chance that we'd be stumbled upon in this neck of the woods. Rebels were common nowadays, but I doubt they'd shack up this far from civilization. I felt nothing, which wasn't saying much since I wasn't much of a sensor-type, but even the shoddy distance I could sense up to was clear enough at the moment for us to make it through the night if each of us took our watch seriously. I set up a high-level genjutsu to hide our location and Sakura began to gather dried wood for a small fire. I worked on setting traps and she worked on setting up camp. We went through the motions wordlessly, like most anbu units. I still wasn't over the fact that she could be _this_ quiet.

Once she had finished collecting and I had finished trapping, we met back in the thickly wooded spot we stopped in before. I looked up at the thick canopy of trees above us. It was perfect for hiding the smoke from the fire. I pointed to where I wanted her to drop the wood. She did so and I began to organize the sticks and brush while she dug a hole around the pile. One small katon-jutsu later and the small fire was going. It provided enough warmth and light for us to see in the surrounding darkness, hopefully without attracting any unwanted attention. I would have preferred a cave, or something with more cover but this would do for tonight.

"I'll take first watch. You eat and rest." I spoke. She paused and I could almost _feel _her rolling her eyes. She did not like being told what to do, even though my choices were logical, she liked her freedom. ANBU teams were clearly not for her. When did she start acting so differently? Why did she abhor the idea of a team? Maybe she just didn't want to listen to _me_ specifically. I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. I went insane and declared war against my own village… I wouldn't be too confident in my decision-making skills either, if I were Sakura.

"Okay." The answer was neutral, cold even. I wasn't telling her what to do to be a commanding asshole! She was the medic here. She needed her rest. I'm just the fucking guard-dog. Or in this case, the fucking guard-_cat_. Screw Naruto for picking my fucking mask.

"It makes sense." I defended, letting just enough annoyance into my tone for her to pick up on. Her shoulders slumped and I think she understood what I was trying to tell her. I'm not doing this to be an ass.

"I know." Her response was soft and I _wanted_ to see her face. Communicating through a mask was bullshit. Seconds later, she popped a protein bar out of her seal, shifted her mask to the side and ate. She looked stressed as she stared at the fire and chewed in a zombie-like fashion. I sighed and summoned a protein bar, then moved my mask aside too.

"Who do you think he is?" I asked about the patient. Not knowing the person's name or identity was eating away at both of us. She knew her teacher the best; maybe together we could figure it out and put both our minds at ease. That was one key thing both she and I had in common: we're both analytical.

"A daimyo, maybe. I don't know anyone else who would be _this_ important." She replied, then looked up at me with her worried, jade eyes. I fucking _missed_ the flash of pink I associated with that particular shade of green. Frowning, I shook my head. A daimyo? It doesn't make sense. She seemed _almost_ personally invested in the person… maybe it was the Raikage? She _did_ tell me to keep my mask on. I swallowed what I was chewing and caught Sakura's eyes. She had looked up at me; probably because she felt me staring. She swallowed what she was eating.

"What?" She asked curiously. "You think you know who it is?" I studied the brilliant shade of her eyes for just a second longer before I responded. She averted her eyes in favor of unraveling the wrapping on her protein bar further.

"I think it's the Raikage…" I said quietly. Sakura stopped and with her the crinkling of the paper around her meal did as well. She looked up but stared past me even though her eyes were on my face. The green orbs cleared seconds later and she blinked, then refocused on me, as if she had finished analyzing whatever it was she was analyzing in her mind.

"Maybe." She replied, but the words were somber.

We continued chewing and eventually finished eating, afterwards burning the paper the bars came in in the fire. I was in the trees moments later and Sakura was settling into her sleeping bag. She slept professionally. I kept watch professionally, listening closely past all of the haunting sounds the nocturnal creatures in the surrounding forest made for any sounds that might be remotely human. After I was sure Sakura was asleep, I dropped down into the clearing and buried the fire, using a shittily-executed earth-style jutsu to make the earth look undisturbed. I was back in the trees moments later and stayed up until roughly three hours from dawn. I placed my hand on her face and rubbed her cheek with my thumb when my watch was finished. Her eyes flew open and looked around wildly as she caught her breath. It was obvious she had been having a nightmare. I had my mask turned to the side. She recognized my face and stopped reaching for the kunai in her pouch. She shook her head, looked up at the disappearing moon and stars and then shifted a piercing, green-eyed glare in my direction.

"Stop being chauvinistic." She hissed and I knew exactly why. I had let her get a few extra hours of sleep, extending my watch further than what was normal on a two-person mission of this caliber. I shrugged and gave her my reasons with a neutral expression.

"You need to be rested so you can heal the patient. If he dies; I die." I retorted, but that wasn't entirely true. I wanted her to be rested just because I wanted her to be rested. I was borderline _almost_ pulling too much weight and responsibility because I cared about her. But I was confident in myself. We can handle an ambush if we find one, even with me only partially rested. I was starting to see why genin teammates weren't put on the same anbu teams later in life and why lovers, siblings and family members _never_ went on missions together. This kind of favoritism was dangerous to the success of the mission.

"Whatever, just stop being a dick." She mumbled and slipped out of her bag. She didn't seal it back up. I watched her as she jumped into the trees, not giving me a second glance back. She was aggravated with me but she still left me a warm sleeping bag to sleep in. I smirked at myself as I settled in and shut my eyes.

-X-

Dawn. I awoke to a Tiger's mask with a shock. I was having a nightmare about the patient. The faceless man had sharp teeth. He was chewing on a two-year-old Sakura who was crying and pounding her little fists on his blank, pale face as her light green dress soaked up her blood. I practically _glared_ at the stupid black wig _and_ the mask she was wearing. I _wanted_ to see pink. Not black. I wanted to know that this person was Sakura and that Sakura was okay. I slid out of the sleeping bag and she sealed it away. We took off into the trees. I contemplated screwing with the jutsu that kept her wig in place, just because I wanted to see her hair, but kept myself under control. We pressed on.

Our nights and days passed just like that. They were monotonous, quiet and foreign to me. I had no idea Sakura could ever be so cold. To me, she was always warm, and chatty and smiling. It was striking to see her this detached. Even the couple of skirmishes we got into we dealt with coldly and professionally, dispatching the rebels who got in our way with almost an eerie ease. I think the highlight of those skirmishes was when one snuck up on Sakura and she decked him in the chest at the same time I stabbed him through the back with my raiton. His entire torso exploded when our chakras clashed beneath his skin. I think that one will haunt us _both_ for a while after this mission. The last night of travel we stopped a few hours away from the patient's house. I could tell Sakura wanted to kill me in my sleep for making that call, but it was for the best. A light run in the morning wouldn't ruin her and she could get to work on the guy as soon as we get there, assuming he's still alive.

That morning we circled around the mountain and hid in the trees atop a large, grassy hill overlooking a deep valley in which the patient's house was situated on. I gazed blankly at the house, unable to see any figures moving inside because of the curtains shadowing the windows. It seemed like a house that a small child would draw for their parents to put on the refrigerator later… it was painfully generic. A cold wind blew past us and I resisted the urge to shut my cloak around my body tighter. I fucking hate mountains and the icy winds that blow between them and valleys. Lightning country and I were never meant to get along. I looked up at the grey sky. You couldn't see the sun through it. It looked like it would snow any second. Maybe this guy was sick because he lived in a shitty place like this and had to deal with equally shitty cold weather every day…

"Let's go." There were no obvious enemies or hidden traps. We shot forward across the damp greenery and flickered to the front door. I knocked three times. And prepared myself. Sakura did too. I could see her body tense in anticipation in my peripheral vision. The door creaked open…

Neither of us were prepared for who stood behind it…

The pale face, dark hair and gold eyes were unmistakable….

….

…

…

…

Orochimaru…

…

…

…

…

This mission couldn't have gotten any worse…

-X-

DUN DUN DUN! *Gasp* oh me! Oh my! What in the name of Jashin is Orochimaru doing at the patient's house!? LOL next chapter… ah man… this is the chapter I've been WAITING to write. I think Sakura's POV will be much more interesting when I upload next time. BWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA I love cliffhangers.  
Good news guys!

I started to outline and write my original work! When it comes out it will be called "Collide". I'm so happy and excited that I'm working on it! I'll let you guys know when it's complete!

**WARNING SPOILER ALERT! SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER!**

Okay. Seriously what the fuck. Naruto manga chapter 692. What. The. Fuck. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm happy we're getting to the final fight—I've been waiting to see Naruto vs. Sasuke for a while now… but Sasuke needs to ditch that world-domination attitude. Naruto needs to do some serious ass-whoopin'! Sakura _better not _take Sasuke's side or I will lose all hope for her fucking character. Also. I've lost all hope for Sasusaku. Clearly, Sasuke is on some crazytrain, Danzo, anti-hero bullshit. AND ALL THIS AFTER THAT SUPER EPIC SASUSAKU MOMENT! UUUUUUGH! So, who wants to board the SAISAKU ship with me? Tickets aren't all that expensive; it'll just take a bit of imagination. Also wtf is it with Kakashi and Sakura being drawn all close and in the same panel with the panel only showing them? Wtf Kishi are you foreshadowing KakaSaku in some subtle, artsy-fartsy way? I swear to God, Kishimoto is sitting at his desk right now, rubbing his hands together and smirking because that motherfucker KNOWS this shit is pissing me off. I told you guys that the guy hates me and look what he's gone and done! I can't believe this shit. And to make it all worse he takes a friggin week off! You don't drop a deuce that big and then just effin' leave it there!

Yep. SaiSaku. After kiseki's sequel, or maybe while I write Kiseki's sequel I will definitely make a realistic SaiSaku. Ugh.

**SPOILER OVER!OVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVEROVER!**

Okay in other news I apologize for this chapter being so… blah and boring. I didn't want to completely skip over the traveling but I wanted to summarize, get to the main point, and drop the action and hell on you guys next chapter. I hope you'll understand and I hope to God Sasuke's chapter was at least entertaining. I really love his mind. He likes to take over and hijack my imagination when I write him. Sometimes he gets too explicit though and that's where the re-writes and revisions have to go in lmfao. Cause then I'm like… but… how the _hell_ am I supposed to tie this all together!? XD Anyway, I want you guys to look forward to Sakura's chapter. Trust me I have some pretty awesome surprises in store for you guys. =)

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ®™ and I don't make any money writing this.


	25. One Small Circle Comes Full

KISEKI

|25|

-X-

Okay, so last night after I posted chapter 24 I had this epic dream. If any of you have problems sleeping, my neurologist said that a few drops of concentrated Valerian root extract in a swig of water will do perfectly. You can get that stuff from GNC ®™! Anyway I'm able to dream longer I think as a result of this wonderful natural supplement lol. SO back to the topic at hand. I had this EPIC zombie apocalypse dream but get this! Sasuke and Itachi were in it!

Lmfao. In the dream, I lost my boyfriend somewhere, but Sasuke was there, so he helped me fight through the zombies. Then, we somehow found Itachi while running through this abandoned factory. We were being chased up these rickety stairs when Itachi finally had enough and told both me and Sasuke to run and look away. I almost cried. But he amaterasu'd the SHIT out of these zombies. They burned in seconds and stopped pursuing. I remember staring at the utter destruction in awe while Sasuke told me that it wasn't a big deal and to follow him. I remember stumbling after Sasuke in awe as Itachi made his way to catch up to us.

And now I want to write a zombie apocalypse fic in which Sasuke and Itachi come to our world and help out LMFAO. I woke up around there, realizing that during Itachi's awesomeness and our need to survive I completely forgot that we had to find my boyfriend hahahahaha damn sexy Uchiha men.

I also think there is some confusion going on with this fic. For one, Sasuke mentioned that Orochimaru was allowed a head start to run away by Tsunade at the end of the war a while ago and no one has been able to find him since he escaped. So yes, the hebi-teme is still alive, to clear that up. Also, remember, Sasuke and Sakura have been traveling together for a week so far. So a week has passed since they left Konoha, just to give you guys a general look at the amount of time that has passed.

I'm so happy you guys liked Kakashi! I tried to keep him in character. I think to this day Kakashi is a lot of people's favorite character. Dude has been through hell— another reason why I gave him some booty to reward him in my fic lmfao— but I put him and Kurenai together for other reasons too. For one, I think crackshippers who ship Shikakurenai are fucking creepy— he's way _way_ underaged for her and on top of that she doesn't seem like a cougar to me. And Kakashi was friends with Asuma. Thus by default he was friends with Kurenai. Also Shika is busy with Temari so who would keep Kurenai company especially when Kiba is out fucking every civilian girl he can and Hinata is busy dating Naruto while balancing her own clan politics? Kakashi. Because he _would_ check on her and because it _would_ eventually lead to something like that.

Originally I wondered if I should've stuck him with Shizune. But… Shizune will come later. –Evil grin- Imaginary peanut butter cookies will go to those who can figure out who I'm going to place her with!

Also, Eternal thanks to all of you who reviewed. I got such nice complements from you guys (You all know who you are ;) ) and I honestly have to say I am entirely flattered and grateful for every positive word I hear! You guys keep me going. –hearts-

Anyway, on to the chapter! Enjoy!

-X-

I froze just long enough to see the faces in my nightmares. I froze just long enough for _all_ of the faces of the children I had to put down flash through my mind. Orochimaru. The man who made experiments out of innocent families looking for help. The man who broke every code of ethics the medical field had created. The man who left children behind in incubators filled with their own feces and rot.

_Nee-san… are you here to kill me? _The broken, weak voices came back to me with force.

_Nee-san, are you the fairy that mommy and daddy says helps people? _The little brown haired boy had a deformed, twisted leg. I had no idea what compounds cause his bones to twist in such odd angles on their own.

_Nee-san… everything hurts… please… please send me to Kami-sama… papa and mama say heaven doesn't hurt… _The little doe-eyed blonde who had welts and black blotches… _everywhere_.

The screams. The small hands reaching for the light as I took their lives out of _mercy_. The fear. The smiles when they were finally released from their suffering… The little eight year old girl suspended in a tank while her belly was swollen with _pregnancy_… The countless underground bunkers _filled_ with ignored, rejected people who had functioned as his _experiments_. It all came back to me like a _flood_, with it bringing a rage and a hate so cold my very bones shuddered beneath my skin.

The rage simmered into cold-blooded killing intent. My very soul felt like it was the only thing warm, the only thing lit on _fire_ with justice… with the retribution and sick revenge that I would drop on this disgusting _beast_ in just a few seconds… Orochimaru did not look healthy. Perhaps the patient of mine that he killed passed on his disease to him. Today… he dies. My hands flew into the opening sign of my mizu-muchi-no-jutsu… one flick of my wrist with the water whip and his head would come flying off… I contemplated pinning him and pulling his heart out in front of him, showing him its very last beats as he died at my feet.

**Let us paint this home crimson with his blood… **

His blood is black. He isn't human. The grass beneath our feet will be soiled _black_ with his tainted blood.

My pulse thundered in my ears. I didn't notice Sasuke was ready to fry him to a crisp as well. Then… in a raspy voice… he spoke, freezing me again before I could fully form my chakra into my thin water-whip.

"Would either of you care for some _hibiscus_ tea?"

We _both_ stopped. It felt like time stopped with us. It felt like the world stopped turning as well.

Hibiscus?

No. Panic. Dread. Borderline betrayal. No, no no, no _no! _The emotions were thick on my tongue. I couldn't speak. Sasuke moved his mask aside, but I was numb, completely numb to the world. It was like experiencing life through a cotton ball. There was _no way_ Orochimaru was the patient. Maybe he tortured the key word out of the patient? Maybe he dug around enough and intercepted a message from Tsunade-sama to the patient? But if the man was already so close to death that he needed my help to rewrite his DNA why would he care about being tortured to death by Orochimaru for a keyword? Surely the man was in enough pain that he wouldn't have minded dying, if only to keep one last bit of information from an enemy. Even a daimyo would do so, as pampered as they are. So… how did Orochimaru get the key word?

"Are _you_ the patient?" Sasuke's baritone stilled my rage, my fury and my betrayal. I was not a wild animal… _yet_. Say the word Sasuke… just say it and we can kill him…

"Sasuke-kun, it's been so long. I am not surprised Tsunade decided to send you here. Yes, I am the patient."

No.

….

…

…

**No. **

"**No." **Inner and I growled out loud together. I ripped my wig _and _my mask off. Orochimaru didn't look surprised. He _knew_ I was coming. "What did you do to my patient." I didn't ask, I demanded. Sasuke tensed. My fucking _fist _tensed.

"I am your patient, Sakura-chan." He repeated.

_FUCK HIM. HE HAS NO RIGHT TO SPEAK TO ME SO FAMILIARLY. _All those children… who the _fuck_ did he think I was!? Some long lost _friend_!? That rage ignited in my soul again. I felt like the earth was shaking but I realized that it was _me_. _I _was shaking. I held the reins on my anger long enough for him to pull an open parchment from the folds on his dingy, grey-blue kimono. There was a letter. My eyes skimmed through it quickly. Tsunade _actually_ wrote it to _him_, telling him she'd send me and another anbu to help him. I didn't have to check twice. The writing was hers. The letter smelled faintly of orchids and sake.

I felt like my heart was being stabbed. Over and over and over again. If it hurt when Sasuke left, this hurt so much more. My own shisho, my sensei, the woman who took me in and made me indestructible, was fraternizing with an enemy whose crimes she knew damn well of. My reports were always detailed. She knew about the "clean-ups" I and my team did in the laboratories of Orochimaru's abandoned compounds. She knew every detestable detail. I had _developed _my DNA-rewriting technique to _help_ individuals whose DNA was screwed with by Orochimaru. I didn't develop it to help the man who had caused so many to suffer to begin-with!

"Die." I muttered coldly. I would sooner rip my own intestine out and eat them than heal this son of bitch.

Chakra poured into my fist. I was lunging at his frail, thin throat. He didn't look healthy. If he was dying, so be it. Damn Konoha. Damn Tsunade-shisho. Damn everybody willing to forgive this worthless sack of shit. And damn this mission. Damn it all and everything else to hell! I will _never_ help him.

Before my palm could connect with Orochimaru's jugular, Sasuke flash-stepped between us. With the back of his hand, while I was _surprised _he batted my arm away, avoiding the chakra concentrated in my hand completely. I just barely managed to decrease the output of my chakra before I destroyed the side of the house and buried us all beneath it. His sharingan was spinning quickly. I _glared _him. How could he!? How could he _side_ with Orochimaru! I thought he changed!

"You…" I whispered… Angry tears pooled in the corners of my eyes. I was still shaking. I hated that I was shaking. I hated that I couldn't understand his expression. His eyes were distraught, uncomfortable, but his mouth was a straight line. He didn't know whether to be firm or start giving me reasons as to _why_ he was siding with the enemy! "You're on his side… you and Tsunade-sama have _both_ gone insane…"

Next thing you know even Naruto will forgive Orochimaru.

"Sakura—

"No!" I screamed my throat hoarse with the force that word came out with. I didn't want to hear his bullshit anyway. I was glad I interrupted him because he'd be getting a new asshole ripped open _right now_. "You're telling me that after everything he did; after all that bullshit in the forest of death! After he bit you then spent the next three years beating you! You're telling me that after he tried to take your body from you, you're _still_ going to side with him!?" I shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"I'm not on his side." Sasuke firmly stated. The determination was back in his eyes. I searched his face for more clues to his thoughts. He was too good at hiding them from me. "I'm on Konoha's side. There has to be a reason Tsunade—

I didn't hesitate. I smacked him. Hard. The slap echoed in the valley and off of the rocky mountain wall we were situated between. His head snapped to the side, grey-black eyes wide with surprise. His mouth was open in a surprised "O". He nearly lost his balance.

"I will _never_ heal him. You weren't there were you?" I swallowed. My voice was _thick_ with pain. I ignored the angry tears running down my face. _Why_ was Sasuke of all people in my way!? Then I realized… I had _trusted_ him again… A week with him and I let myself _trust_ him… How could I have possibly been so _stupid_?

"Even three years spent with him, you didn't see them did you? The _countless_ people who had turned into his experiments. Mothers, daughters, fathers and sons. Families. All twisted and deformed and in pain! There was a pregnant eight-year-old in a tank, Sasuke!" I screamed with rage. He straightened himself out from the smack, his cheek almost as red as his emotional sharingan eyes and looked broken.

"I can't fail this mission Sakura, we can't—

"**Fuck the mission!" **He shut up immediately. "If Konoha is willing to accept _this_ scum back then I don't want to be a part of it. I would rather die, Sasuke. I would rather become a warlord's personal whore!" I replied brokenly, but stubbornly.

"Konoha accepted _me_ back." Sasuke half-whispered, half-deadpanned. He was defying my words, daring me to insult him after the friendship we've built these last two weeks. I spoke softly, stubbornly in reply.

"You never did anything that bad… you never—

I choked.

"You were never like _him_." And it's true. Sasuke had never killed innocent people. He threatened and screamed and promised to end countless lives, but he only ever killed those who had a reason to be erased. Why the hell was he siding with someone who had caused so much misery? It broke my heart all over again to see him doing this. It was like that night in Konoha when he left over again. It was like some sick record was replaying what we had already been through, except this was so much worse because I had seen firsthand the sorrow Orochimaru's machinations left behind. Back then I was only afraid of what he _could_ do. I didn't know what he actually _did do_. This feels like a nightmare. This _has_ to be a nightmare. I held onto the hope that it was for a brief half-second until another icy wind blew by, reminding me that no, it wasn't a nightmare. You don't feel temperatures in your nightmares…

I took my headband off. I had lost all faith in my village, in my country. I felt sick wearing Konoha's symbol with pride if Tsunade-sama was willing to accept this _monster_ back in the village. I had seen things; awful things throughout my career. But no one ever came close to being called a "monster" in my eyes; not even Uchiha Madara after he had stabbed me through the stomach and become Kaguya... Even after I returned Kabuto's body back to normal, I couldn't call him a monster after all the experimentation he did on himslef. He was still a victim of circumstance but Orochimaru… Orochimaru had done everything to those people _willingly_ without anyone else's will shadowing and clouding his mind. To put innocents in such pain was his _choice_. He disfigured children… babies even. I could _never_ forgive him for the lives I had to take down in those compounds. I could _never_ forgive him for putting such desperation and _age_ in the eyes of children so young. He deserved to die. I would let him rot.

"Sakura what are you doing?" Sasuke sounded tensed, borderline panicked. His voice was that of a man's that just realized his own comrade was an enemy in disguise.

I gave a humorless, heartless laugh. It was funny in a cynical way. Years ago, Sasuke had abandoned Konoha. Now it was my turn. How the tables had turned…

"You can tell Tsunade-sama that I am no longer a kunoichi of Konoha or a citizen of the Land of Fire. You can tell her she's insane and while you tell her all of that I want you to keep in mind that I will never forgive _any _of you for even _thinking_ that giving that _monster_ a second chance is the right choice under _any_ circumstances. I can't believe you of all people would allow yourself to be such a _tool._" I made sure my words cut his heart. I wanted them too. He had hurt me and cut my heart in the past. It was _my _turn this time. My eyes flew to Orochimaru standing behind a frozen, shocked Sasuke, supporting himself wearily on the door frame of the house. He was decrepit and there were saggy, dark circles under his eyes. Even his chakra felt pathetic where it once was frightening.

"And _you_." I spat poisonously as our eyes met. I suppressed a shudder. Orochimaru has scared me since the moment he peeled his face off in the forest of death before he bit Sasuke, changing our lives forever… Even in his pathetic state, I retained an infuriating, instinctual fear of him… "I hope you die alone. I hope you die in pain. I _wish_ for kami-sama to kill you slowly and painfully, but even if you don't have _that_ much time left, I hope you suffer just like all of those innocent people suffered. I hope your insides twist in agony during your final moments. I hope your bowels spew out of your mouth and I pray that your blood coagulates whilst still in your veins… But most importantly, I hope you _never_ move on after you die. I hope you _never_ find rest and _never _reach the other side. And if by some miracle you do, I hope someone with the ultimate power of judgment will punish you and make you experience the way those people had to live before I ended their pain. I hope you experience the suffering of every single one of them _multiple_ times." I hissed, then turned on my heel, preparing a flash-tag kunai to make my escape. Sasuke was stubborn. He had been through a lot so he would recover from his surprise _soon_ and when he did, he would give chase. He was determined to complete this mission.

"You can put me in the bingo-book if you'd like." I told him, just to stall him. "…Konoha can kiss my ass. I won't be its tool anymore." I stated coldly while turned away from them both. I wasn't afraid to turn my back on my enemies. If Sasuke tried anything he'd be receiving my fist through his chest.

"Sakura, as your captain—

I cut off his commanding, pretentious sentence, ignoring the nervous, tense undertone laced in his words.

"You're not my captain. You're not my friend. You're not even my enemy, Sasuke. So long as you side with this _evil _rotten scum, you're _nothing_ to me." I cut him off icily. I can't _believe _he'd go along with this even _if_ it's a mission! Mission's like this one ended up in the death of his entire family! Has he forgotten that!?

I heard him move. I dropped the flash-tag kunai. A bright light filled the valley, so bright I'm sure Sasuke would be seeing spots for a few hours afterwards. I masked my chakra just as I felt his fingers brush my shoulder, I took off, shunshinning time after time after time until I was far away enough for him not to find me. Broken-hearted and betrayed I flew through three villages, running for hours upon hours until I found one nestled and hidden in between two small, rocky mountains. The streets were deserted and only a few lights twinkled in the windows of businesses on the main dirt road. It was raining here. It had been raining for a while, but here it was _down pouring._ The weather fit my mood perfectly.

I saw a bar as I passed a barber shop and an apothecary. Before I walked in, I searched through my seals and pulled out a short, bob-cut blonde wig and a spare set of clothes consisting of simple, calf-length black pants, a purple, off-the-shoulder sweater and grey, civilian sandals. I changed in the deserted alley behind the bar, hoping no one in the wooden, worn residencies cramped together would see me. Rain pelted my skin as the sky poured buckets of water down on the already soggy, muddy ground. Thankfully the cloak managed to hide most of me. I changed quickly and sealed my anbu gear and cloak into the gloves and stuffed the gloves into my pocket. I ran into the bar, money in hand.

The wooden door opened with a jingle and several burly men turned their eyes towards me. I gave them a sick glare and they looked away, the hatred in my eyes expressing my superiority over them. They were hunters from the looks of it. Not hunter-nin but regular hunters, based off of what they were wearing: fur and leather. Most of them had thick, scraggly beards and wild hair. The bar was more of a tavern. Everything was made out of wood. Tables, chairs etc. The only thing not wooden was the bar countertop. It was solid, grey stone, but it was stained with blood in several spots, no doubt from a few ugly bar-fights that had occurred there. There were two bartenders. A middle-aged man probably Kakashi-sensei's age and a young woman my age with light blue hair and ice blue eyes.

I missed Kakashi-sensei and home already knowing that I could never go back there after the decision I made. If Sasuke was a good tool, he'd report what happened and Tsunade-sama would send out hunter-nin to find me. She'd probably send Sasuke himself. I probably didn't have much time to drink and screw around. I needed to get far, _far_ from here. But I didn't care. If he came after me I'd just escape. His sharingan was useless against me anyway. If the sharingan wouldn't work they'd have plenty of trouble detaining me. I worked alongside all the kage in the last four years. I was easily trusted— it came with having pink hair and an innocent disposition. I knew how most villages functioned and captured their prisoners. I could avoid most capture attempts. Nothing short of a genius of Uchiha Itachi's caliber could bring me in at this point.

I sat at the bar. Tonight I was going to get blasted. I'd find a way to escape in the morning. I needed something to calm the PTSD— to make the faces go away. The crying, the tears, the pleading for death and sweet escape… I didn't want any more echoes of the past to haunt me. I can't believe Sasuke and Tsunade-sama betrayed me. I _knew_ it was weird that Tsunade-sama promoted him to captain.

"What'll it be?" The blue-haired girl asked.

"Something strong. Something that could take out guys their size." I stated as I pointed to a group of three burly hunters huddled around the tavern's fireplace on short, wooden chairs. They were telling each other stories.

"Are you sure?" The candy-colored girl asked. I shot her a glare.

"I'm fucking _sure_." I hissed.

"O-Okay." She got right to work. I listened to the fire crackle and the sounds of hearty laughs as I stared at a blood-stain in the shape of a heart. Like an actual, human, anatomical heart. I tried to rehearse medical knowledge in my mind to relax myself, but nothing could tear me away from the fact that I had chosen the life of a nukenin rather than complete a mission that was morally questionable. All anbu did morally questionable things, but bringing Orochimaru back to his original state by rewriting his DNA was asking too much. Naruto was going to kill me. Ino would be heartbroken. It's not like it matters though. Aside from last week, before this mission, I hadn't really spent much time with any of the original rookie nine. They might have changed and they would change. People always changed. I was happy with the way they were in my fondest memories of them.

A tall glass of something amber with something purple swirling inside alerted me to the bartender-girl's finished product. I looked at it, and then I looked at her.

"Go on, drink. Tell me what you think of it."

Alcohol. I could always focus on alcohol and talk about it. Alcohol always made everything better. Bartenders are my favorite people. I took a long swig, swishing the stuff around in my mouth. Whatever that purple stuff was it was amazing. I felt a haze come over me instantly.

"It's liquor with a liquid painkiller mixed in with it. It helps everything kick in faster. This is the only one of these you're getting tonight, though. The next ones will be strong, but regular. She smiled, and I saw understanding somewhere in her pale, ice-blue eyes. She had been through her own share of shit. I nodded and drank more. She left me by myself to attend to the customer at the other end of the bar. A few minutes later and I was in a nice haze that was turning into the perfect buzz. After tasting the drink on my tongue a couple of times, I identified the painkiller she put in it. It wasn't anything serious. It was a regular, liquid NSAID, but it did the trick. This girl was a genius. Minutes after that I had finished the drink and my mind felt fuzzy. I would have to tell Aki about this drink if I ever came across him again. I would have to tell him about this drink and then apologize to him.

I missed him. I missed being hugged and kissed and adored. I missed feeling loved in his arms at night. A small sob escaped my throat. I didn't realize I was crying until I saw my tears drip down onto the heart-shaped blood stain on the bar in front of me. I missed being comforted after the faces came back at night. I missed— I missed the physical parts of a relationship. I didn't miss him telling me I needed to stop doing what I was doing. I didn't miss him telling me to open up a business and give up being an iryo-nin. Fuck that. Another glass was placed in front of me. I pounded down the drink in four, large gulps.

You know what's evil and immoral? I missed Sasuke. He hurt and betrayed me _again_ but I missed him. I missed his scent at night. I missed the way his hair felt. Goosebumps traveled up my arms, neck and scalp as I realized that I missed the way he touched me at night. I missed him rubbing circles into my skin with his calloused thumb. I missed his fingers threading through my hair and the way he breathed in my scent as he slept. I missed getting up and creeping around him in the morning, testing my stealth against his instincts.

Another sob. Another drink. I sipped this one slower, not looking at the bartender. Thank kami-sama no one heard me crying. I let the blonde hair of the wig shadow my face.

I missed Tsunade-sama even though she betrayed me too. She had _always_ cared about me. When my parents left, she made sure I had a place to stay and something to do. She invited me to her office and had Shizune make us tea. Sometimes Shizune would join us. We'd talk about the goings-on of the hospital and laugh while she drank sake. She always smelled like orchids, intense, but intangible at the same time. I think I was going to miss Shizune the most. She was like a big sister to me. I never had a big sister. In fact, if I remember correctly, I always wanted one. Or a big brother. A brother would've been nicer. Actually, I was going to be a big sister soon, but I would never get to meet my little brother or sister now. And it's all Orochimaru's fault. He came into our lives years ago and fucked everything over and just as team seven was getting things back together he decided to show up again and make sure things _stayed _fucked over. If I had my way I'd never see either Sasuke _or_ Naruto ever again.

"So, I'm guessing you're a kunoichi, right?"

It was the bluenette bartender. I didn't answer her. It was none of her business what I was or wasn't.

"Okay. You're a kunoichi. You have more muscle tone than the average civilian girl. We don't get a lot of shinobi in this village, but I can always tell what a shinobi looks like. Also, it's freezing outside, you're still soaked and you don't seem to care."

She was speaking quietly enough to not alert any other patrons. I appreciated that. I sighed. I had no right to be a bitch to her when she was only clearly trying to help.

"You're not wrong." I replied, appreciating the haze of alcohol I was swimming in. My brain felt like it was floating through molasses. I felt relaxed as I started to forget the faces in favor of focusing my minimal attention on this girl. I didn't feel weird around her either. She had blue hair and even though my pink strands were covered by a blonde wig, it felt nice not being the only weirdo with odd-colored hair for once. She smiled a brilliant, pretty smile. She was curvier than me and definitely had the build of a civilian. I realized she had her hair up in a neat, blue bun, bangs flowing across and to the side of her face, framing her chin and pretty, large eyes.

"You girls have it hard." She sat down on a chair I didn't realize she had positioned in front of me on her side of the bar. I noticed the other bartender was taking care of the rest of the patrons on the other side of the bar. Was she on break to talk to me?

"What's your name?" I asked her, and then took another sip. This alcohol was strong. It was just what I needed. My buzz deepened as the moments ticked past.

"Rena." She smiled and I could tell she was being honest.

"What's yours?"

I frowned. Telling her could put her in trouble if Tsunade sent other countries after me.

"Mind if I give you an alias? It might be dangerous of you to know too much about me."

She smiled and nodded understandingly. I thought of a quick name and smirked.

"Okako." It meant cherry-blossom-child. It was as close to 'Sakura' as I could get.

"Pretty, even for an alias." She smiled again and complemented. "Mind telling me what happened to make you cry?"

I brushed aside tears and shrugged, sipped again.

"I used to love a man. And I used to study under someone who was like a mother to me. They both betrayed me today." I explained, giving her a rough outline of what happened.

Rena's smile faltered. She poured me a shot of something clear. I downed the tiny glass and she cleared it off the table, pouring herself one afterwards and downing it as well.

"I see. I used to love a man too, you know. Though that was short-lived…"

I nodded grimly. I knew _exactly _how I felt.

"Since I'm a civilian, I guess I'll tell you the story. How about we go back to my place first, though? It's late enough as it is and you look like you need a place to hide out for a while." She offered and I knew it was out of kidness.

"There will be people coming after me."

"They won't think to barge into a civillian's home this far from major civilization. And besides, don't you shinobi know how to alter your chakra or hide it or something?" She asked with a cocked, blue brow. I laughed outright. Alter a chakra signature? Now _there's _an interesting thought. But I could suppress mine pretty far. You'd have to get within a foot of me to be able to sense it unless you're Karin. I shrugged. The rain would wash away my scent so not even nin-dogs would find me here. Why not?

"Sure, let's go." She grinned like a kid on their fifth birthday.

"Give me a minute. Let me tell Hatsu that I'm done for tonight."

I nodded.

"I'll be by the door."

We both stood up and went to do our thing. A half-minute later we were trudging through the rain, her in a blue cloak and I in my civilian get-up. Something about this girl soothed me. Maybe it was because we might've shared similar experiences. I could've turned out to be her if I hadn't chosen the life of a ninja. She seemed like she knew her way around the world just enough to make it out here. We walked through the cramped streets and residential areas of the town until we reached a small cottage at the very end of town. It was wooden and stone like the rest of the cramped houses and the street was muddy around it. I could spy a small vegetable garden growing around one side of the house. I suspected there were more crops growing in her backyard. She unlocked her door with an iron key that fit into an iron lock affixed to the wood. When we entered, she lit a candle and went to light the fireplace. I couldn't help but think of how useful Sasuke's katon-jutsu would be in this scenario.

She motioned for me to sit in the small living room that was attached to the entrance hallway and the kitchen while she lit more candles and started to boil a pot of tea. I saw pictures of her and a tall man with dark hair and eyes and lightly tanned skin on the wall across from the cloth loveseat I was seated on. Then I noticed the small tattoo around her ring finger. She was married. I smiled at the picture. They were both grinning like they had just pulled a prank on someone. I inhaled the woody scent of the fireplace. My nerves calmed further. She walked into the living room, placed the tea set on the rickety wooden coffee table in front of the love seat and sat down next to me. The tea smelled like green matcha. Sasuke's favorite. Somberly, I took the small, beige cup from her hands and sipped on it in the warm lighting of the room.

I decided to be honest with her after a few moments of silent tea-sipping. I pulled off the wig. I was safe in here anyway. No one would find her or recognize my soggy scent in the bar or in town. It started to rain an hour before I even found the bar so it would be hard to trace me. I flashed through a few signs that would help keep my chakra masked without much concentration. It was hard to do so under the heavy influence of alcohol, but I managed. She stared at me wide-eyed, but said nothing until I spoke. I was surprised she wasn't afraid or hadn't assumed I would attack.

"My name is Sakura." I said now that we were completely alone. She gasped and grinned.

"I have a funny story for you!" She said. "Your name reminded me of it!"

I ignored that statement.

"Is that your husband?" I asked, pointing to the picture of her and the man. She grinned.

"Yes. We married years ago. He wanted to be a shinobi but became an earth-style bridge-builder instead. He's on a building site right now. He'll be home in a week. I bartend while he's away."

I nodded. Interesting. A civilian using earth-style jutsu to build bridges for other civilians.

"But before I met him I was in love with another shinobi… although I never knew his name."

What? How do you fall in love with someone and not know their name? I must have looked at her strangely, my stoic face slipping in my drunken haze. She laughed prettily and blushed.

"My life used to not be _this_ organized…" She admitted and I snuggled in further into the couch as she tossed me a blanket to cover up with. I was still soggy and cold. It was nice of her. So as I wrapped the blanket around me, I listened to her speak as she grabbed a fuzzy blanket for herself. It was a darker blue than her hair. Thunder crashed somewhere far from the cottage but it still shook the ground here. Lightning country was famous for its wishy-washy, often violent, weather. The storm, however, made everything much cozier, so I decided to keep quiet as she cleared her throat, sipped her beige cup of tea and continue.

"Where to begin? I guess it started with a debt my family owed to a medic. We couldn't pay it off so I was sold to a brothel when I was fifteen that the doctor had a contract with."

My face contorted in disgust. That was a shoddy medical practice, but traveling doctors did it often to civilians. I felt for this woman.

"Anyway, my first night at the brothel, I was put on display. There was an older guy— definitely a pervert— who was looking at me."

Of course he was a pervert. He was going to buy sex from a fifteen year old girl at a brothel no less!

"When I looked up I saw this boy my age. He looked angry. Would you believe he beat up the perverted guy!? That's why I like shinobi. I've only ever had good experiences with them." She added as a side note. "Anyway, the boy tricked the guards and they let him in. He tricked them into thinking he bought me. I saw him hand them wooden chips that they treated as gold. I was a virgin back then so I was pricey. But he still took me upstairs."

I blushed at this part. Hell, this was a personal story. She giggled here.

"He was a virgin too. 'Had no idea what to do, but still he saved me and he was pretty handsome, very dark hair, very dark eyes." She was smiling, looking back at the memory with fondness instead of lust. I looked at the picture of her husband on the wall. Was this how she met her husband? No, she said before she met her husband she was in love with this boy. He was a shinobi, so it wasn't the same person. Maybe she married her husband or fell for him because he reminded her of the boy?

"What happened?" I ended up asking. How did _this_ story remind her of my name, anyway?

"Well, I convinced him to do it with me." She shrugged, a light blush on her cheeks. "Back then I was happy that I wasn't going to be raped that night. I was happy he just happened to be walking past the brothel at that time. The funny thing is, he fell asleep halfway through the night. He mumbled your name. I guess it's a really common name anyway, but it fits you perfectly. You have the ideal shade of pink hair."

I froze. Yes… Sakura _was_ a common name… but just how common was it, exactly? I have yet to meet another girl named Sakura…" This happened when she was fifteen. She said he was the same age. Something isn't right here…

"Anyway, that night he tried to convince me to run away even though running away was impossible at that particular moment. We fought and he left. I never forgot him. I never found out his name and I haven't seen him since. But that same afternoon, when the security thinned, I made a choice. I ran. I ran far, _far _away. He was right. I couldn't live my life enslaved to a debt that hadn't even saved my life. I gave up my family and my life down there and moved up here. I met Keita on my way here. He saved me from bounty hunters and offered to help me settle down. Somewhere along the way and after that we started to have a relationship. He decided to stay with me and eventually asked me to marry him years later." She smiled warmly as she stared at her teacup. "So even if those you love leave you, you shouldn't worry. There will always be someone else around the corner. That's why I like to help people who look lonely, especially shinobi. You may have only known me for a few hours, but I still want to offer my friendship and the sanctuary of my home if you need it." She finished calmly as she placed a hand on my arm. Drunkenly, I smiled at her.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I was safe for the moment…

-X-

Aaaaaaaand there's your surprise guys! What did you all think? Lol Sasuke's POV is next. I'm so glad I slammed this update in the day after the last one. When I have the fire to write, I really write. The plot has to be good though. I think all authors sag through the filler or the not-as-exciting parts of their stories. I like to bang out my main points and make them epic. I really, _really_ hope you guys liked this update.

Bwuaahahahahahahaha The next chapter is going to be even _more_ fun to write. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I can't wait to see you guys react to this! I've been waiting for this exact moment _forever_. I still didn't know how exactly I was going to write it but I was glad it turned out this way. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA I still can't believe Sakura stumbled upon the girl Sasuke lost his virginity to hahahahahahahahahahahah! I don't know how I come up with this stuff, seriously. Ah it's a small small world… Anyway, I'll be busy working on the next chapter. XD The next chapter is going to be so awesomely Sasuke. I'm going to start writing it as soon as I finish editing this!

Until next time!

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ® ™ and I don't make any profit writing this.


	26. The cottage in the rain

KISEKI

|26|

Okay I hope you guys read chapter twenty four. I know I updated the day right after I updated so I might've confused some of you guys LOL So make sure you read chapter 24 before chapter 25 and 25 before this one otherwise you guys are going to get mad spoilers hahaha.

Man last chapter was actually hard to write; I'm not naturally an angry person so it was hard to get Sakura's betrayal across even though I've experienced some of my own share throughout my life. So to make myself pissed and depressed I watched a lot of AMV's and surprisingly, even after watching some splipknot AMV's and some Disturbed and some Dope, I didn't feel angry, just kind of sad and contemplative. You wanna know what did the trick? Rap.

Yes, Eminem made me pissed off lmfao. His songs "go to sleep" "lose yourself" and "till I collapse" really put me in that dark mood that I needed to be in to make the last chapter pop as best as possible so I apologize if it sounded half-forced or something. Anyway, now we know what kinds of missions Sakura has been on. We know _exactly _what horrendous things she had seen and what made her so different and distant. It's gotta be traumatic for a medic to find someone so disfigured or changed on top of whatever medical anomaly the victim had to begin-with and not be able to do anything to help. And daaaaaaaaaamn dat loyalty from Sasuke. He has faith in Tsunade and what she's doing for the village and in return Tsunade has faith in him. Anyway on to this chapter. This one is going to be a funny one. LOL But the even funnier one is the one that comes after this one.

-X-

She slapped me.

Haruno Sakura slapped _me_, Uchiha Sasuke. Right across the face… I would be a liar if I told you my face was the only part of me that stung. She had hurt _me_ somewhere during the process too. My chest was violently constricting even though _physically _it wasn't and I wasn't understanding _why_ I felt panicked. I felt… I felt the same way I did when I made my mother worried sick as a kid. Guilty. I felt the way I felt when Naruto told me he was still my friend and there for me even when I was half-insane.

Fuck. Where is Naruto when I need him?

On top of my emotions spinning out of my careful control, I couldn't decide what to rub more, my cheek or my spotted eyes, so I used each of my hands to do both at the same time.

She… she fucking _flash-tagged_ me… while my sharingan was activated! I can't see anything but horrendous white/red spots! I rubbed over and over and over. When there were only one or two spots left I tensed to run after her because everything was telling me to. Even with her shunshinning multiple times she could only get so far in comparison to me. _Do it_. _Go after her __**now**__._ Everything in my subconscious was commanding me to. She _couldn't_ just abandon the village, Naruto—_me_— like that! Before I could take off and follow my whims, I felt a decrepit hand on my shoulder. It had been a while since Orochimaru halted me. My world stopped again. That icy, disgusting touch brought back a clarity I had momentarily lost in my shock and pain.

Fuck. I was becoming sloppy. Sakura was making me sloppy. When had I bent my life around _her_? I felt so _stupid_.

"Come inside. It's best you contact Tsunade first, Sasuke-kun." He croaked in that dry, cracked tone of his that reminded me of sandpaper scaring across granite.

I glared at him viciously in response, hoping I looked as threatening as always. I didn't want him to remind me of what I was instructed to do. I didn't want him to be right, but he fucking _was_ so I moved into the doorway past him and I only just realized that while standing there in the cold, he had begun to shake. I knew why he was in this state. It must have been _years_ that he hadn't taken a body. The last time he had body-robbed someone was when I first started training for him, probably a little bit before that. So it's been almost _nine _years… And kami-sama was it showing in him…

His face was sunken in, he was lean to begin with but now he was barely skin and bones. He shook all over and his face was ashen, eyes blotched with dark circles. Disgusting… It's creepy to think that he almost succeeded in taking me over. His hair was ragged and had lost its shine. He was the epitome of someone suffering from some sort of fucked up never-ending withdrawal. No wonder Tsunade sent Sakura here to help him…

Rewriting his DNA would essentially get him his original genome back, back _before_ he started injecting himself with shit… The main question was _why _did Tsunade make this decision... Surely something cataclysmic was going to happen if she was willing to keep Orochimaru alive, and even help reverse his own mistakes. Orochimaru would sooner cut his eyeballs out than lie to me; he would give me answers.

First I watched him pick up the gnarled, wooden cane he had set up against a wall once he had shut the door. He hobbled over across the wooden flooring of the warmly lit open-floor plan, the cane making solid, thunking sounds as it hit the floor. He hobbled over to a plush, violet arm chair and eased himself into it. Now that the front door was closed, the room was warming up again. The arm chair was positioned next to a blazing fireplace and in front of it there was a glass table. In front of the table was a loveseat that matched the arm chair in color. A large bookcase filled with tomes and scrolls spanned the wall to my right, just beneath the staircase to go upstairs, where I assumed there were bedrooms. To my left, There was a wooden door cracked open revealing a clean, white restroom with blue accents and to the left of that there was a window and a then kitchenette with tall, grey-marble countertops and stainless steel appliances. It looked like it hadn't been used in a few weeks.

"Are you going to come in, or stand there like a stranger?" He rasped and I recognized the annoyed glint in his eyes. He wasn't annoyed with me, per se, but with himself because he was no longer threatening to me, though he stopped being a threat to me the second I proved I could kill him… over and over if necessary… and that was when I was seventeen. Reality must hit hard when it finally sinks in. I trudged inside, not bothering to take off my shoes since I might have to kill him if his reasons don't line up when I speak to Tsunade. I dumped myself into the sofa and avoided staring into the fire. I still had a fucking spot in my eyes and it wasn't going to go away until I spent enough time in dim light and rested my sight. Every time I fucking blinked it was there.

"I'm assuming Tsunade did not disclose any information before sending you both here." He stated it like it was a fact that he knew. If he already knew why was he wasting my time confirming it?

"That's exactly what happened and exactly why Sakura just defected. How did Tsunade _think_ she would react?" Actually, Tsunade might have known already. She might have planned for this. She _did_ tell me to reach her whenever possible and communication-summons scrolls were rarely used on sigh high-ranking missions, only because you never know who will kill you and take it… that was another rule she broke to have this mission completed. Just what the _fuck_ is going on?

"Careful, one might think you've grown attached." Orochimaru let out a chuckled that turned into a full-blown coughing fit that was so wet and gurgled I wasn't sure if I wanted to cough along with him or gag instead. It was a joke at my expense, but he had no idea how right he was. I decided to keep my mouth shut and fire off the interrogation instead. I only waited a few seconds after he had finished coughing to begin grilling him.

"Why did Tsunade send Sakura to help you." And that wasn't said as a question. His dull, amber eyes sharpened in focus. All jokes were over. My fucking teammate… _Sakura_— who fucking actually _matters to me_— just abandoned her village and me as a consequence because of this shit. The answers better be good. I was in a particularly _foul_ mood now and I think Orochimaru sensed it.

I was very familiar with _him_ but I had never really visited the labs in the compounds while training under Orochimaru. I only visited that one that held Suigetsu. Whenever he needed to run a test on me it was done in the private lab, where I would be comfortable. How did Sakura come across disfigured and pained children? I had never seen such things, but I was willing to believe it. This was Orochimaru we were talking about and Sakura seemed scarred from what she had seen. Hearing the hysteria, anger and betrayal in her voice did a number on my mind and gave me a wider perspective of just what had been going on back then.

Those clean-up-missions Naruto was talking about her going on were ones where she was sent to deal with Orochimaru's leftovers… It made sense because the victims were deformed, disfigured and experimented on. Only a knowledgeable medic had a hope of saving them. I can see why Tsunade had sent Sakura to deal with it. Apparently, Sakura couldn't save them, however, and most of them had to be killed… to have to kill small children out of _mercy_… it was a disgusting thought even for me and I had been through _a lot_. That was close to what Itachi had to do. Too close. My chest tightened again. I wanted more than anything to find her and talk to her. I glared at the dingy faded-pink slippers on Orochimaru's feet. I didn't want to be here, dealing with this shit. I wanted to be out there _getting her back_.

She _never_ yelled at me like that_ ever_. Not in our entire lives. Even after four years and so much change she _never_ lashed out like that. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. I didn't even give a shit if Orochimaru saw me stressed. We knew each other too well and at the moment he was the furthest thing from a threat to me. If I wanted to I could look at him and he would die right where he sat without being able to do anything about it. He was completely at my mercy so _fuck it_. "Keeping up a professional demeanor at all times" could suck my dick.

"She requires my expertise in studying the enemy." Orochimaru responded.

"Enemy?" I echoed. What enemy? The only enemies left were rebels who didn't like the peace after the war. Rebels who wanted to be the new Akatsuki. Had a strong enough group already formed somewhere? I and the rest of my colleagues in ANBU have been fighting them off _steadily_. We've even been finding their bases and points of operations; intentionally scattering and killing most of them to prevent them from getting any stronger or more organized. _What the fuck_. I took a stealthy, but deep breath. I was missing something, somewhere. I didn't have enough information. I have to calm down. I _have _to.

…_But Sakura left_.

It was like a curse; repeating over and over in my mind. She left. She fucking left. How could she leave? This is probably my ultimate punishment from kami-sama. This last week was blissful to butter me up for this exact sickening moment in time. Is this how _she_ felt when _I_ left? I made her cry. I fucking made her _cry._ She probably felt worse. Why is my heart beating so fast? My mouth was dry and I felt like shit. _I need to know what the fuck is going on. _Years of training kicked in and a familiar coldness settled over my mind. My racing heart slowed. My mind cleared. I was devoid of all emotion. Mission mode. Do or die. Orochimaru started talking.

"There is trouble brewing in the West, Sasuke-kun, but no one knows of it yet. An expedition there could prove useful. She would have asked for Jiraiya's help if he were alive." Orochimaru explained and coughed into his sleeve. I resisted cringing and kept my icy expression on. It was sufficient information, but there was nowhere near enough detail for me to fully understand.

"Why not just send me or any other anbu to take care of it?" I asked. Why _him_?

"Because the languages are different in the West, far beyond Suna's desert. I can study, translate and bargain with the savages and I am of no relative importance to the village. If I return with success, I can stay in the village so long as anbu tails me and makes sure that I don't do anything I shouldn't. The information I bring back will save countless lives. Intel and information is _everything_. If I die, there is no consequence to the village." He explained and a heavy silence befell us as I processed this information.

Well… shit. Tsunade was playing with fire… But what Orochimaru was saying made some sense. I had heard a lot of anbu were being brought home dead or on the verge of death after coming back from somewhere beyond Suna… though I thought that was only a rumor...

"And why this sudden need to live in the village again?" I replied poisonously. I had to be sure. Why would he want to come back? Why would he want to take Tsunade up on her offer? I wished Nara were here. Shikamaru would have been a helpful lifeline to have. He would have expected Sakura's outburst. He would have helped. He would have been here, figuring things out with me. It's a shame he's on the new council instead.

"Konoha is home, Sasuke-kun. I've been everywhere and there is no place to rest weary bones like home." He explained. It was a simple explanation… but it made sense. I had nowhere to go after the war either. I had been everywhere in the three years I wasn't in Konoha. Nothing was like home; not even sound even though it was close enough to feel familiar or similar.

Orochimaru sounded old and tired and fed up. His age was staring to show in his eyes. He must've also run out of shit to learn. I sighed, deeply. I felt old just hearing this new information and seeing what had become of my former mentor. What is even worse is that Konoha had _just_ dealt with a major enemy in the last war and now we're on the verge of another… I pulled out my summon scroll to get into contact with Tsunade. Orochimaru smirked fondly, probably remembering the day I had signed the contract with the snakes. A small, blue snake appeared on the unraveled paper when I leaked a little bit of chakra into it. This was Aoda's daughter, Sanza. She wasn't fully grown yet, but remarkably intelligent. Great for communication and espionage.

"Samzara." I greeted.

"Hai, Ssssssasssssssuke-sssssssssama?" She hissed innocently, if a snake could _ever_ look innocent to anyone else but me.

"Contact Tsunade. Act as a liason between her and us. Please." There was no need to treat her with iron authority. Samzara was always respectful.

"Underssstood." She split into two versions of herself, the other disappearing and probably appearing inside Tsunade's bra or something.

"Kami-sama!" I heard the hokage shriek out of Samza's open mouth. Yes, her clone had appeared in Tsunade's chest. She _shouldn't_ have put that scroll there…

"I apologize Tsunade-hime." Samzara politely replied.

"Well, at least you're not a jackass like Manda was."

Yeah… that was definitely Tsunade. Orochimaru chuckled from his armchair at the frank comment. A raspy cough cut him off and he silently suffered while I went about my business.

"Sssasssuke-sssama is connected and you may begin speaking with each other at any time." I heard the clone inform Tsunade.

"Uchiha." Her voice came out of Samzara's open mouth. I stared at the little snake, glared at it even. Tsunade sounded stressed and that stress was giving her an attitude that I didn't have the fucking patience for today, hokage or not.

"Things went bad." I reported quietly but effectively. I didn't have to say more. I wondered if Tsunade would send hunter-nin after Sakura and if Sakura was skilled enough to evade people like the long-dead Haku.

"…"

She didn't say anything for a few thick moments.

"…How bad?" She finally asked and I could hear the tension and sadness in her tone.

"Sakura abandoned the village. She said you went crazy and that she would never heal Orochimaru." I explained, trying not to sound too rushed. It didn't matter because he wasn't a threat, but I didn't want Orochimaru knowing I was suppressing a freak-out of my own.

"Is he there?" She asked and there was a suspicious _hope_ in her tone that made me want to say "no" even though that was a lie. Why in hell does she sound so… I didn't know the word. "Hopeful" was the only way to describe it.

"Good to hear you again, Tsuna." Orochimaru replied almost gently. It was damn near impossible to make his sandpaper-voice sound gentle…

And that was about when it hit me.

Oh no… oh fucking no…

That tightly controlled panic was coming back full-force. My mind starting running through everything so quickly I almost made myself dizzy.

…They _had_ been writing letters to each other… Orochimaru showed us one himself… they fucking had a _thing_… like a _romantic _thing. He _never_ referred to Tsunade as "Tsuna" when I knew him… something had changed... _a lot_ between them…

Fuck.

When I finally pieced everything together I glared at my sickly former teacher. The dick had the bravery to shrug, affirming my worst fears. The hokage and this international criminal had a _relationship_. I understood now why she was so strict with Naruto. She wanted to step down and then _settle down_… Now I see why she treated this mission with such urgency. Not only was Orochimaru needed for the good of the village but she had also somehow found a way to _love _him…

Or maybe it was just Orochimaru that had a _thing_ for Tsunade… maybe that's what he was after and she was just helping him out… It could be more one-sided than I think it is… but… instinct told me that was just wishful thinking. She wouldn't have sounded like that when she asked about him if she was still angry with him.

This was practically an international _scandal_. The Raikage was going to shit himself when he found out… Even an idiot could see he liked Tsunade… Naruto had even picked up on it at the end of the war. He cracked one joke and Tsunade punched him so hard he flew. It took him a few hours to come back. If the Raikage finds out… there will be an even _bigger_ war to worry about… Every shred of peace Naruto and I had worked to attain was coming apart at the seams. The blonde idiot was doing hokage work and he knew about all of this and he _still _found the will to be _optimistic_? Yet here I am… caving in on myself…

"How are you feeling?" Her tone was softer than when she spoke to Sakura. No. No, no, no, _no_. This was borderline _sick_… I felt nauseous. But those anbu… the ones who came back all messed up… Two of them had worked with me before… One of them was in critical condition… my comrades _were_ dying out there… and this snake was one of the few people that could help stop it all, or at least make the situation better…

"What is going on in the west, _exactly_?" I asked darkly. Because if someone was killing _my _comrades, I would find out who it was... I would do _anything_ to stop them.

"You told him." Tsunade snapped. It was at Orochimaru, not me. That snap had half the heat in it that it should've had. Fuck. They really are _like that_.

"Would you have withheld information in my precarious position?" He quipped back. And he was right. Anyone in his place would shit themselves. If he hadn't spilled everything I would have gutted him for what he had indirectly put Sakura through. I wouldn't have even blinked or thought twice if I didn't like his answers.

"Damn it Uchiha." I could practically imagine her biting on her thumbnail.

"I won't ask again." I demanded, a little bit more firmly than before. Hopefully she was smart enough to realize Orochimaru's life was at stake. I would hurt him worse and make her listen if I didn't find out soon. How the tables have turned…

"There have been people discovered beyond the mountains beyond the deserts of Wind country." Tsunade began.

"_That_ far away and they're killing our anbu near _Suna_? Rat and Koi were eliminated in the west a week ago." I didn't want bullshit. I wanted facts and _answers_ damn it.

"They killed plenty more from Suna before Garra asked us for help in investigations. The first fight was an accident. The language was a barrier and the other group attacked, killing a platoon of Suna anbu. From there Gaara sent others to find this group. Many died. This was one of my last few options. There are good men dying out there and we need someone to figure out the ins and outs. The enemy is pushing closer and closer to Suna's borders. Suna _and_ Konoha are in trouble." She explained.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked. I got the basic gist of the situation. I understood what I needed to do to help. I just needed timeframes now. How close were these people getting and for how long have they been getting close?

"Three months."

Fuck.

My head snapped to the door as I realized that _Sakura_ was out there in _uncharted _territory! What if she ran into them and—

I stood up fast, dumping Sanza onto the glass table.

"I'm going to find Sakura." I announced. And right at that moment it would've taken kami-sama himself to stop me.

"You're going to stay there and wait for Naruto and Karin to arrive. I figured she would do something like that. Have Naruto and Karin feel her out and then approach and tell her what you just found out. This is for the good of Konoha— _do not disobey me_."

"That's not the entire truth." I quietly, dangerously spoke. I wanted her to be open about _everything. _

"What? Are you calling me a—

"Yes. I am." I warned. I didn't like lies. "This isn't just for the benefit of Konoha. I'm not seven years old. I _know_ what's going on… with _both_ of you."

I shot Orochimaru a dark look. Tsunade sighed, understanding that she had been found out.

"Fine. This is for selfish reasons as well. But it won't matter in a few months." She snapped, not liking at _all_ that I had unraveled her secret.

"Naruto's inauguration." _That_ was due in a few months, if whispers from Shizune were to be believed.

"Exactly. Konoha and by consequence _I personally _benefit from it. I didn't think you would want to be privy to my personal life, though, you fucking nosy brat. Now, are you still in or do I have to send Yamanaka over there to make things happen?" She taunted.

"Tch." She hit a sore spot. I didn't need Yamanaka Suchiru to act high and mighty because I refused to make the impossible happen.

"I'm still in, but I don't know about Sakura." Bottom line, Orochimaru _was_ good at translating long-forgotten tongues and ancient texts. If solving this bullshit between us and the West rested on his shoulders then fuck it. He needs to live. I didn't want Naruto's term as Hokage to be a stressful one or one filled with violence. My idiot brother deserved better than that and my dead brother would agree with me.

"Does Naruto know what's going on?" I asked, because I _had_ to be sure. If he knew and hadn't left then there was hope in bringing Sakura back.

"Of course. He was the first one I told…" She mumbled the last part. Naruto had probably _annoyed_ her into telling him. If Naruto knew everything and was still on-board, then I was on-board. We just needed Sakura.

…Sakura…

Thunder rumbled in the air and a sick ice-rain began to pelt the roof of the house. _Sakura_ was out there somewhere in this rain…

I stared out the window.

"I'll wait for Naruto and Karin." I replied coldly and stiffly sat back down on the loveseat.

"They should be there in two days' time." Tsunade informed and she sounded relaxed for once.

"Hn." Whatever. The sooner they got here the better. Sakura could take care of herself but her not being a part of Konoha, her being off _alone _somewhere unnerved me. Sakura was soft and emotional on the inside no matter how much life has hardened her. I didn't want her to be alone… I didn't want her to think I had betrayed her somehow.

Though the way she brokenly screamed my name would indicate that she had already thought that the moment I chose to think rationally and trust Tsunade's judgement. It was a fucked up, lose-lose scenario. Go with Sakura, lose the village and my brother's will. Stay with Orochimaru, lose Sakura's trust.

I didn't even want to give Kami-sama a place in my thoughts but I asked him to send her someone to keep her safe for now. I prayed that she wouldn't run into any foreigners that may have traveled North-East. I didn't realize how intently I was staring at the table and Samzara on it. I didn't realize Orochimaru and Tsunade were bantering about his condition and had suddenly stopped.

"Pining after the girl who dared to slap you, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru grinned, his dry lips cracking from the motion. I almost winced but glared at him instead.

"Oh no, she slapped you…?" Tsunade's tone was dry and clearly sarcastic. She felt I deserved it. I guess in some ironic way, I did.

…I was going to _hate_ the next two days…

-X-

For two days, Orochimaru and I existed around each other. That was it. Or at least that was what I was trying to keep it at. I didn't want to "hang out" or "catch up" but occasionally the snake would ask what I'd been doing. Occasionally he'd get on my nerves, like he was now, by trying to guess what my life has been like so far since I haven't told him a damn thing yet. We were sitting in the living room. I was reading a book, dutifully trying to ignore him.

"So… perhaps you'd slept with her and _that's_ why she snapped? How terrible of you Sasuke-k—

"Shut. Up." I was losing patience. How much more of this bullshit?

Today was "Guess why Sakura got mad at Sasuke day" for Orochimaru. I couldn't _wait_ for Naruto to get here, for once. I would even welcome Karin treating me like the big bad wolf. I was over it. I needed to talk to Sakura, not Orochimaru.

"Oh, have I guessed correc—

"No." I half-snapped, half-growled. Why does everyone think I fucked her?

His dry lips cracked again as a sick smile formed on his face. Well, it wasn't _sick_ exactly. It was fond, but anyone else would think it's sick. He _did_ look satisfied, however and that itself was unnerving. It meant he was piecing _something_ together in his mind; _theorizing _if anything.

"Why do you want to know anyway?" I grouched as I finished reading the sentence at the bottom of the page without really understanding what I just read. At this point I was just pretending to read and I was almost sure Orochimaru knew I was pretending. Besides, one can never truly be as good at fake-reading as Kakashi anyway. I shut the book and gave him a pointed look. _Get to the point, snake-man. _

"Is it strange that I would want to know how one of my best students has been doing?" He asked with a sullen pout that I knew was over-exaggerated. I could hear the exaggeration drip from his tone.

"Yes. Very." I replied flatly. What does he care anyway? I was just another body for him to take and he was just a hurdle that I had to get over for my revenge. There were few things we rarely agreed upon anyway. His expression became serious as he stared back at me.

"What can you possibly say that will make her agree?" He _finally _asked, _finally _getting around to his main point. I wasn't surprised he quit the mind games and flat-out asked. His own curiosity must be killing him. Orochimaru liked to strategize; he liked to be prepared. Rarely was he ever caught off guard and that was something of his that I had learned to adopt. If it was at all possible to be prepared for something; prepare for it. I stared back at him, just as serious.

"The truth." I responded. Sakura had a right to know why her sensei had made such a crazy bass-aackwards decision that compromised her morals. Orochimaru frowned.

"You can always manipulate her feelings. She has always been emotional."

I shot him a poisonous glare. I was above such things. Though I suspected he suggested that only because he was trying to see what kind of man I had become since he's last seen me; testing the waters, if anything. My reaction was clearly negative. Now he knows I'm not like those who tried to manipulate me in the past. Fuck his mind games; Naruto was nearby anyway, I could sense him and Karin approaching rapidly.

Just then, there was a knock at the door; right on time. I was just beginning to lose the last of my patience as well. I summoned Samzara and connected with Tsunade just as I called for Naruto to come in.

"Yo, teme!" He greeted as he practically kicked the door down. Naruto was in his anbu gear, Karin half-hiding behind him in her jounin vest, shorts and long boots. She wore her hair in a bun with her bangs messily parted to the side. Aside from that and a long-sleeved, fitted black shirt, she hadn't changed much from when I saw her last about three months ago. Orochimaru seemed surprised at Naruto's entrance. Either he wasn't prepared for the blonde to have changed physically so much, or he wasn't prepared for the fact that close to nothing about his personality had changed. I shot my brother a half-smirk. It was a relief to see him. I locked eyes with Karin. She half-shrunk back but I shot her a slow, disarming nod. She nodded back. Orochimaru smiled at her. He was trying to look gentle but he ended up looking sinister.

"Karin. It's been years." He greeted. "And you too, Naruto."

"Yeah, what's up, hebi-teme?" Naruto talked before Karin could respond and grinned at him like Sakura _hadn't _just abandoned the village because of him.

"Are you aware of what the fuck just happened?" I snapped at him. He wouldn't be so smiley if he new that Sakura had _left_.

He blinked owlishly, sensing my aggravation.

"No?"

Tsunade let out a weary sigh from her connection through Samzara and Naruto freaked out at her voice coming from the little snake's mouth on the glass table.

"_EEEEEEEEEEEEEH!? Baa-chan?" _ Naruto screeched and I swear to kami-sama the Raikage probably heard him from his office. Wasn't he aware that people could communicate through summons? Wasn't this covered in the last war?

"Naruto. Karin. Sit down. There are things Sasuke has to inform you on." I was grateful for the hokage's command. We had _a lot _of ground to cover if Naruto didn't yet know that Sakura was gone. Naruto blinked and then looked around the room, confused as Karin sat cross-legged in front of the glass table, not wanting to sit near me _or _Orochimaru and keeping uncharacteristically quiet. In fact, I think she seated herself closer to Orochimaru than me. It made me sick that at this point she was more comfortable with him than with me.

"Hold on-ttebayo. Where's Sakura-chan?" He asked, only just realizing Sakura's absence. Karin blinked owlishly as well, but didn't try sensing for Sakura… yet.

"Naruto, _sit_." Tsunade commanded and even though her voice was being projected through a snake she still sounded authoritative. Naruto's eyes locked onto mine, suddenly distraught, and I nodded solemnly. Things had not gone well. He threw himself onto the loveseat next to me and rubbed his head.

"What's going on?" He asked, suddenly more serious and melancholy than I'd seen him since the war.

"Sakura defected." I decided to drop the bomb on him. Better to rip the bandaid off nice and quick than peel it off slowly.

"EEEEEEH!?" Him and Karin were _both_ so shocked they cried out in unison. Naruto gripped his hair and Karin's jaw dropped.

"She's… not one to do that." Karin mumbled, speaking for the first time, and then fixed her glasses.

"No way-ttebayo! Sakura-chan would _never_! That's not funny, teme, seriously!" Naruto denied instantly.

Aaaaaaand there goes the rest of my patience…

I lost it. I had a whole day and a half of sifting through bad memories from Orochimaru's compound. I had too much time to think about how badly I had fucked up and how badly Sakura was fucked up. I spent too many hours listening to the depressing coughing coming from my dying former mentor. I was fucking done. I was done and I wanted to get the _fuck_ out of this depressing house. I was tired of looking at the fucking fireplace. I was tired of the fucking questions. I was sick of being a baby sitter for Orochimaru. I was sick of worrying about Sakura. I was tired of the circles my mind was going in.

"I'm not fucking kidding! You think this is a joke, Naruto!? She's _gone_! Do you fucking sense her anywhere, because I fucking _don't_!" I was standing now. I didn't know when I even stood up. Everything had boiled over and I exploded only because Naruto _could_ handle a violent outburst from me. I couldn't keep everything pent up anymore. My best friend was tensed and in a state of surprise mixed with trepidation. I could see his exposed biceps flexing, ready to flash through hand seals if need be. Karin looked like she wanted to run away and hide. From the corner of my eye she looked like she _knew_ she should've stayed home.

"We need to find Sakura-chan." Finally Naruto spoke and dissolved the tension in the air. I swallowed. Hard. I swallowed _all_ of my stress because as always, he had chosen the right words. I calmed down and sat, crossing my arms. I took a silent, steadying breath, trying to breathe through my anger. It was amazing how he always knew what to say. It was borderline creepy but welcome at the same time that he could always relate to what I was feeling. I wanted to apologize but I held my tongue. There would be no apologies right now, Tsunade was clearing her throat.

"Naruto, Karin. You two need to use your sensory abilities to find Sakura. She is imperative to this mission. Isolate her location, but do _not_ intercept her. That's Uchiha's task." Tsunade instructed with her usual confidence and no-nonsense tone.

"What afterwards?" Naruto asked, and I could tell he was ready to go just by the tone in his voice. We both stood up. Even Karin was on her feet, though her expression seemed annoyed and I guess it was because she hadn't gotten a chance to sit. Some things never changed…

"I don't know, Naruto." Tsunade's tone was heavy with her uncertainty. Naruto waited, looking at Samzara as if he knew Tsunade wasn't finished speaking. "… … … It's all on you, Sasuke. Don't disappoint me. Bring my girl back." She finally spoke, voice thick with emotion. She regretted whatever had happened to put Sakura in a position that compromised her morals. But that wasn't what had made her parting words meaningful. I knew she meant every word because she had used my first name for probably the first time in the four years that I've been back. I nodded but I realized she couldn't see me.

"Aa." I replied. I'd try my best, at the very least.

"Naruto, you and Karin lead, then fall back once you have a feel for her." And once again she was back to being hokage.

"Got it, baa-chan! We'll be back soon!" Naruto was back to grinning as usual, positive and optimistic as always. It was refreshing and diffused some of the lingering tension in the room.

"The rocks become slippery in the rain. Don't trip." Orochimaru spoke in his sandpaper tone and Naruto laughed out loud while Karin glared.

"Gross. 'Nice' doesn't suit you, Orochi-teme." Naruto joked.

"Great advice." Karin sniffed sarcastically and crossed her arms, but Orochimaru cracked a smile back anyway.

"Let's go." I ordered, keeping the force out of my tone. I was antsy. I had been borderline neurotic the last day and a half. I _needed_ to move. _Now_.

We disappeared without another word, Naruto and Karin in the lead. I wished they'd run faster but I was too glad to just be out of there to tell them to move quicker. It was easy to focus on the positives when Naruto was around.

"She's just on the cusp of my range." Karin shouted to us once she got a read on Sakura. Naruto had felt out her initial direction based off of where felt her feelings were coming from. Karin took over to detail the path out for us. They were an effective team.

"Aa! Lead the way Karin-chan!" Naruto cheerily shouted back. Karin's range had only improved in recent years. We could be running for _hours_ if Sakura was "on the cusp" of her range. I should've eaten the left over stir fry I had made last night to give me more energy to burn, but I was too stressed to eat anything today. Oh well… suck it up…

-X-

It was about mid-day when we left. We ran for _hours_. Karin had to stop halfway because she just couldn't push herself anymore. After an hour of rest at around five, we set out again at six. And again we ran and ran and ran until we halted just at the outskirts of some tiny village nestled in between two mountains. The gate was wooden as were most of the houses and establishments within it.

It was dark by now and the three of us were being _pelted_ with thick, heavy raindrops. I was surprised our cloaks held up against the water. It was almost Seven o' clock sharp. Both Karin and Naruto stopped to focus. I padded closer to them; always the one with the best eyes, but with none of the ability to really _see_. Karin must have felt me looking at both her and Naruto. I bet you she even knew how tense I was feeling; how stressed I've been. She cleared her throat to roll off the information I needed simply because she knew information or action were the only things that could ever really settle me.

"She seems to be walking around some sort of small establishment. It's not very big. It's close to a lot of wildlife. More on the right than on the left." She pinpointed. I saw her eyes move around behind her eyelids in concentration.

"Aa, that's about right. Those are definitely animals nearby-ttebayo. You got it, teme?" Naruto double-checked.

"Come with me." I demanded in response, but I would _beg _him if I had to. I _needed_ Naruto there. I _couldn't_ do this alone. Naruto opened his eyes and released his hands from the tiger sign.

"She's settled down. I think she might be eating. She seems depressed, but thankful." Karin interrupted with her final report before she too let her hands drop and opened her pink eyes. She scooted closer to Naruto, always wary of me.

"This is all on you, teme. If I show up there she'll deck me all the way back to Orochimaru's house, believe it!" I frowned at him, _pleaded_ him with my expression only. He only shook his head. I glared at the frog mask fastened to the side of his head. "Go. She'll listen to you." And he nodded as if all was really well. It wasn't.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose out of stress. Fuck it. I didn't care what rumor Karin would spread once back in Konoha; Naruto needed to know how seriously Sakura hated me right now. There was very little I could probably do to get her to come around.

"She slapped me." I revealed and it probably wasn't the right thing to say, though I expected Naruto to just get it, because somehow he always did. I looked at his surprised blue-eyed expression flatly. Karin snickered. I shot her a glare. She momentarily shuddered in fear, but couldn't help the laughing fit afterwards. She must have felt the laughter bubbling up from Naruto, too, because soon after she cracked up, he bent over and started howling while I stood there, mortified and miserable in the harsh rain rapidly pitter-pattering across the hood of my cloak, making me deaf to all other sounds aside from their laughter. Naruto slapped his knee, then straightened out and held his stomach. Karin had tears in her eyes.

"Sa-ahaha-Sakura-chan _slapped_ you hahahahahahaha! She never smacks _anyone_ hahahahahah! Oh man you had to've _really_ pissed her off ahahahahahah!"

Fuck him. I growled and turned around.

"I'll be back. Wait at that bar for me." I didn't wait for him to confirm. I masked my chakra, squashing it down as best as possible and shunshinned out of there, since neither of them didn't seem to want to take me seriously. Do or die, Sasuke… You're on your own… _again_.

It only took three minutes to cross the tiny civilian village at full-speed. I spotted a cottage at the edge of the woods to the right of a dirt— now mostly _mud_— road. It was mostly made of wood with some stone and seemed to have a garden stretching around the side and back of the premises. Thunder clashed somewhere in the distance and I caught a flash of lightning. Just _perfect_… the storm wouldn't be getting any better either… I could smell some sort of meat cooking from the inside of the cottage. Idly, my stomach reminded me that I should've fucking fed it earlier. I ignored it and took a deep breath and three solid steps towards the wooded front door of the house…

Someone's dinner was about to get spoiled…

-X-

LOL Can't hide from those damnable sensor-types. Especially not ones as insanely awesome as Karin! I was glad to give her a part in this chapter, though I personally would've wanted to give her more to do or say. She's afraid of Sasuke at this point, so there's not much she could say and Sasuke doesn't really care much about her anyway, aside from the guilt she makes him feel sometimes for what he did to her.

**Spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler DON'T READ THIS IS A MANGA SPOILER!**

Yo… Sakura should've called Sasuke a piece of shit. Leave it to Kishimoto to A) make Sasuke the lawful evil and B) make Sakura the rejected teary-eyed side-character. I am _so_ pissed. _So_ over it. I told you guys! I told you all! My ships have no cannons! Kishimoto fucking sat at his desk and cooked up a chapter JUST to piss me off with. I'm so over it. So, who wants to abandon SS Sasusaku and hop onto the SS Saisaku? Fuck it who's on the KakaSaku ship? Mine is fucking sinking as we speak so I need a rescue like ASAP.

**Over Over Over Over Over Spoiler over SAFE TO READ BEYOND THIS POINT Over Over Over!**

Anyway. Yeah, things are heating up. I'm actually _excited _to write the next chapter. It's going to be fun! I hope to see you guys then! Aw man…. Can't _wait _till Sasuke walks through that effin' door yo!

See ya later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ®™ I don't make any profit writing this!


	27. Love Me Like That

KISEKI

|27|

OVERWHELMING responses for last chapter. I love you guys –hearts- you all give me such an interesting perspective on my own work. SO much hate for Orochimaru. I love it. You guys are awesome. I wish I could teleport a hug to you all. Seriously. Some of your reviews made me almost cry out of happiness because I put so much work into this and it's hard to believe that it all started as an EXPERIMENT in writing first-person. (Orochimaru pun right there in case you guys didn't notice lol "experiment" get it? I'm a dork =p) Anyway eternally, thank you again. You readers and reviewers have a special place in my heart because you give me support without even realizing it. I am so grateful and even indebted to you guys on some level.

This chapter was so difficult to get through. Not only did school and life get in my way, but it was very emotional. There was so much emotion involved in this chapter and it was all so hard to put into words. I hope I did at least a decent job.

Enjoy.

-X-

The fire in the living room was blazing, carefully engulfing the entire open-floor-plan of Rena's house in a gentle warmth and light. Rena's husband came home earlier today. Like Rena, he's warm and inviting and the love they shared often made me feel like I was an outsider looking in through a foggy window. It was strange to see two people love each other so much and so truly in such an ugly world. I _almost _didn't understand it. The only romantic love I ever knew never worked out. I could tell just by observing Rena and Aoi that what Aki and I had wasn't the "real thing" as most people would consider it. It was close, but not entirely true and wholesome like these two have it. It made me feel empty and a little cold.

I've been nervous the past two days. It's been an entire two days since the incident with Sasuke. Two. Whole. Days. Poisonously, I hoped Orochimaru was dead by now while nervously considering the fact that Sasuke was acting out of character. I also distinctly felt like I was forgetting something important. I couldn't tell what, though, especially since I was drunk recently. Anyway, I still couldn't believe I actually _slapped _Sasuke. Yes, he deserved it. I'm sure he _knows_ he deserved it. But Sasuke was a proud and angry person. His fuse wasn't as short as mine, but he wasn't one to be trifled with.

I had _slapped _him in front of his former teacher, his former superior, so if he hasn't come after me by now, Konoha is definitely planning something. Tonight would have to be my last night here. I had already told the couple earlier today that I was leaving, if only for their own safety. Both of them looked worried but Aoi could tell that I could handle myself, even though Rena had a hard time believing him. The man was smart. He knew not to judge me by my misleading hair color.

I watched Rena put steaming rice and beef stew on the worn, but sturdy kitchen table while I idly sifted through my own thoughts and sipped on a cup of steaming chamomile tea. The chamomile made me feel lonely and afraid, instead of calm. Sasuke had made me chamomile tea that one stormy night… I couldn't get the _annoying _man out of my thoughts.

Shaking my head, I caught Aoi smiling at his wife while she stirred some side-dish in a pot. There was endless love in his dark eyes and I would be a damn liar if I said I didn't feel a gaping hole in my chest. _I _wanted a man to look at me like _that_. I wanted to be loved on a deep level, like _that_. Rena finally set everything on the table. I felt childish for wanting what someone else had. I wasn't jealous, just upset with myself and maybe with Kami-sama because I haven't met anyone right for me yet. I haven't met anyone who would love me like _that_.

"All- right! Time to eat!" She grinned and walked over to sit down as she clapped her hands together excitedly. "I made anmitsu for desert." She shot me a cheeky grin and I blushed and shot her back a shy smile. We were talking about our favorite things yesterday while I helped her clean. I told her my favorite desert was anmitsu. She told me hers was taiyaki and I could understand why. I loved the sweet fish-shaped pastries as well. They were my second-favorite to eat.

Aoi liked ice cream, and unfortunately for him that wasn't common in Lightning country. The cuisine was entirely different here, probably because it was cold outside for most of the year. You were more likely to find ice cream in Konoha or a country where spring weather was the prevailing climate.

"Thank you, Rena-chan." She nodded and Aoi looked approving of our friendship. After the short, warm moment we dug in. I munched on the fall-off-the-bone beef and soft potatoes almost mechanically as I contemplated which direction to travel towards. It wouldn't hurt to travel further up North. North of here was largely unknown to the rest of the world. Even Kumo hadn't gone _that_ far yet. This entire area was already on the very cusp of our maps and our society as we knew it. I could just travel as far north as possible, then loop around to the west. They'd probably never find me. It was a thought-out plan, but a little bit random. Just enough to keep Konoha off of my tail for a while.

If I had to guess, Tsunade-sama would initially send a small four-person group of anbu after me. She knows I rely on chakra to fight so they'll either be proficient in fuuin-jutsu or some sort of chakra-sucking jutsu, if those are even largely known about in the first place, which they really aren't.

"Your hair looks darker today, Rena." Aoi spoke to his wife. His tone was complementing instead of just matter-of-fact. He was letting her know that it wasn't usual but it was appreciated anyway. He would love her if her hair was frickin' green. Where can _I_ find a man like that?

**Well Sasu—**

Shut it. Stop hoping. Thankfully there was no response, just a small, ignorable feeling of disappointment.

"It's been dark outside recently." She replied with a shrug. "I'm not getting enough light, but that's okay." She shot him a comforting smile, one obviously meant to pacify him and tell him not to worry. He grinned. An obvious response that he wasn't worried in the first place.

"I always thought it was funny that you have the blue hair but I'm the one named 'Aoi'." He replied afterwards.

I snickered good-naturedly. Life was funny that way. 'Aoi' meant 'blue'. It's comical that he found someone with blue hair to marry. Rena chuckled, happy that I had joined in on the banter. They were meant to be, and though it made me miserable to see them so happy, I couldn't hate them for it. I felt sorry for myself, but happy for them. The world needs little rays of light like them here and there.

As if to interrupt me, there was a knock at the door. Three, very common successive knocks. Nothing overly conspicuous or tell-tale. It could be _anyone_. My eyes locked with Aoi's, tensely. Rena looked at us both and bravely stood to answer the door. Aoi's hand flew to Rena's, pausing her at the table. I had told them both earlier that I was expecting hunters. I told them they'd most likely be benevolent but if things didn't go their way violence might erupt. They had _still_ insisted I stay for dinner, regardless.

"Let me answer it." His voice deepened. He was the man, if there was anything amiss he wanted to be the one to protect. Admirable. Rena chuckled with an air that brushed him off.

"I can feel the chakra too, you know. It's too small to be a shinobi." She winked at her husband and he considered her for a moment. She reached over to lovingly straighten the collar of his white-cotton tunic. Aoi sighed and gently took his hand off of hers, running his fingers lovingly over her skin in the process. It stabbed my heart a little bit. _No one _had ever touched me that way.

**Liar. **

What? Whatever.

Anyway, what was Rena talking about? I couldn't feel _anything _beyond that door, not even the chakra of a citizen and they were _right at the door_! Curiously, I looked both Rena and Aoi up and down. Maybe they had inherent sensing abilities? Kind of like when I was born with natural chakra control but didn't use it 'till later?… Maybe they were as good as Karin and just didn't realize it? Whatever. My stress amplified as I watched Rena step out of the boundaries of the kitchen, and towards the front door. Aoi remained tense at his seat. She Finished sashaying across the wooden floorboards and reached the door. I gripped the table knife at my side, ready to throw it at the visitor if necessary. It wasn't sharp, but it could impale someone if I coated it in chakra and threw it as hard as I could.

I could see the door from my place at the kitchen table. Aoi's back was turned to it, but he silently scooted his chair back, ready to spring to his wife's side if necessary. He nodded at me. I nodded back. He wasn't a shinobi, but he was an earth-style user. He knew shinobi-esque things here and there. We could be a dangerous team even though we've never worked with each other before. Two people with chakra capabilities were better odds than just one and two civilians.

Rena opened the door. And gasped. All I saw was the shadow of a cloaked man, and heard his gasp as well. That was all I needed to spring into action. The knife went flying, and the target, still in shadow, just barely dodged in his surprise. _Fuck_ this! I flashed over to the door, positioning myself in front of Rena with a kunai this time, in full anbu gear and cloak. Due to lack of training, Aoi got there a few seconds later, but he was still at Rena's side anyway. Slow, but not dead-last, definitely.

To my dissatisfaction, Sasuke stood in the doorway, and I noticed how surprised he looked beneath the hood of his black anbu cloak. But what surprised _me_ was that he wasn't even looking at me; he was looking at _Rena_. And Rena was looking at _him._ My eyes flew back and forth between them. It looked like one of them had cast a genjutsu on the other. There was something going on here… Something was missing. I was missing _something_. What is it!? My bad feeling crashed through my chest. Whatever shit was supposed to hit the fan today, _this_ was the moment it was supposed to happen at.

"Y-You…" Rena whispered incredulously.

Wait,_ what_? _They know each other_? Aoi and I shot each other confused stares, though something seemed to be clicking together behind his eyes that I didn't have time to analyze. Sasuke remained silent, but his eyes were round with the same surprise. The expression looked odd on him. He was rarely ever surprised. I wanted more than anything to flash step the fuck out of there while he was out of it, but something held me there against my will. It was that feeling of missing something, looking something over… that missing puzzle piece. I wanted to know, against my better judgment, what the fuck it was.

… And that's about when it hit me.

Actually it crashed and slammed into me with all the force of a raging tsunami… that information I looked over….

It was a conversation we— Sasuke and I— had while walking through Konoha a couple of weeks ago. We had been walking back to his apartment after dinner at the restaurant Chiho-chan worked at.

"_I kicked a guy in front of a brothel once." _He had said it so casually. _That's _the missing puzzle piece. My eyes flew to Rena. _"…in front of a brothel…" _

"_Would you believe he beat up the perverted guy!?" _Remembering her words slammed me with mixed emotions like one of Tsunade's super-powered punches and with them the realization that Sasuke may have been _that_ boy did as well. My heart dropped to my stomach and my stomach dropped to my ass. Suddenly, I didn't feel very well. And for some _stupid_ reason I felt a _sharp _stab of hurt in my chest, like Haku had thrown one of his senbon right into my heart, and after that there was a coldness that seemed to settle into my very soul, like death. Sasuke's dark eyes flicked to Aoi's similar, almost-black ones as he caught up to the situation… A light dusting of pink settled onto his cheeks as he looked from the confused husband to the shocked wife. My theory was correct. Sasuke and Rena…

Fucked.

In a brothel.

When they were about fifteen.

That was… _way _too much information. My mind was spinning and even Inner seemed to _want_ to blaze with disgust, but she was just too surprised. I felt fuzzy and weird, like my head _wanted_ to spin but my body forced it not to. I flushed despite the chill coming in from the open door. The mild spray of cold rain hitting my face helped keep me grounded.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Rena recovered first and asked, breaking the thick silence we had all kept. Then, she noticed my tenseness and her eyes widened and she blushed, realization hitting her as well. I was _that_ Sakura. The one whose name Sasuke mumbled in his sleep _that_ night. She affirmed my conclusion with that one look. They really _had_ done it. Well…well…well… talk about something coming full-circle.

"Oh." Aoi spoke, attracting three pairs of eyes with his deep tone. He had been piecing it, had suspected and came to the same conclusion I did. Compared to the heavy, awkward silence between us four, the rain outside sounded like a hundred roaring lions. He stuck his hand out and smiled. Sasuke stared from him, to his hand, hesitant to move, unsure of what to do, muscles and body tense in preparation for attack. He had fucked the man's wife once upon a time. I would be tense too. They shook hands slowly, almost awkwardly. It was weird to see both of their confidences clash.

And then I understood, just by their expressions. Rena had told her husband about her first love and about her past and he had _accepted _it. He knew about them too. My heart broke. Broke. It broke into a million pieces because I knew I would never _ever_ find anyone like that. Ever.

"It's nice to meet Rena's first crush." Aoi chuckled, ribbing Sasuke in a good-natured way. Sasuke turned a half-glare to Rena, betrayed that she would speak of what had happened between them. She shrugged like it didn't matter. I had enough at this point. I was done and I wasn't about to stick around. With the self-control of a _saint_ I bowed politely, one fist touching the palm of my hand in a universal symbol of peace.

"Unfortunately, Rena-chan, Aoi-san, I must be going." I spoke professionally.

"You aren't going anywhere." Sasuke overrode my goodbye, drawing everyone's attention to him. It took _everything_ I had not to scream at him and tell him to shut his fucking mouth, but I decided that I wasn't going to let him rattle me. I felt my cold confidence creeping in as I straightened from my polite bow.

Inner felt betrayed, anguished and hurt and I knew that somewhere deep _deep_ down she felt that way because I felt that way too. Sasuke was _my_ first _love_. Not just my first crush. I had _learned_ to love him during our time on team seven, however brief it was. And knowing that… they had… _fucked_ hurt me somewhere inside because Rena had extended her kindness and friendship to me and I felt betrayed because I hadn't _expected_ her to indirectly hurt me, though somewhere I knew I was looking over an important piece of information. I had a _feeling_ –an _intuition—_ and I was too stupid and slow to realize it. Pathetic. I knew friendship and warmth like that was too good to be true. It's like they say, _there ain't no rest for the wicked_.

I was hurt and my natural reaction, thankfully, was to be cool about it. It took _years_ of conditioning to learn how to keep my emotions from showing on my face. It took _years_ of horrendous training with Sai to _not_ let my enemies know what I'm feeling, what I'm thinking. But it all paid off. The harshness, the cruelness of Sai's insults during that time… it all paid off now.

Because now, I was confident. Now I was cold and sure of myself. I was everything I should have been since I started my career as a shinobi. I was everything I should have been the night Sasuke left, the day he nearly stuck his chakra through my chest and the moment he rejected me on the battlefield. I was a fucking _machine_ right now, stoic as a hunk of metal, and it felt good to know that I looked like I didn't give a _fuck_.

"How are the spots in your vision, Sasuke?" I cruelly sniped back as I slid a hand to my hip under my cloak. He narrowed his eyes, unhappy with the cruel comment.

"We need to talk, Sakura. This is serious." He was tense. I could always tell when he's tense. He was trying to look calm, but I knew he wasn't. He was _rattled_. I felt successful and smug about rattling him even more. The girl he lost his virginity to was right in front of him after so many years of not knowing what could've happened to her. She had married someone that was very handsome, almost as handsome as himself and his teammate who had forsaken her country was unpredictable to him. He was freaked out. And I loved that I wasn't helping him any. I almost smirked sickly to myself. I _wanted_ to hurt him _more_. I _wanted_ to make him even more stressed out than he already was.

"What's serious is you getting into my face, Sasuke. I _could_ just kill you, you know. I wouldn't have trouble erasing you; not now." I replied heartlessly, confidently. And hurt flashed across his eyes. That hit a sore spot. I had tried to kill him in the past, but I cared too much to do it. Now, he knew that _he_ didn't matter to me anymore. He was upset that he didn't matter and suddenly, I was _glad _we had become friends, because I got to throw that bond back in his face and rub it in extra hard just like he did to me when we were younger.

_Hah… Fuck you, Sasuke_.

But the victory was bitter-sweet as revenge usually is. Somewhere inside, even though I was satisfied with tearing apart our friendship, it hurt me too. It hurt me like you wouldn't believe. He was back to narrowing his eyes only a second after I spoke and half a second after I saw the pain in his eyes. Now, he crossed his arms and blocked the doorway, blocking my path. Rena stepped aside, and Aoi easily slipped his arm around her shoulders, stepping aside with her. They weren't stupid. They could tell that shit was about to go down. Sasuke had finished masking his chakra. I did too. If they had inherent sensory abilities then they knew that we could destroy this house, this little village and everything in the vicinity with ease.

"Maybe you two should come in and talk…" Rena cautiously invited, trying desperately to be a peacemaker. Her body was partially turned towards us and partially towards the living room, Aoi protectively at her side. She _wanted_ to resolve the underlying matters between us all. That was more than what I was willing to do. I wanted more than anything to destroy something beautiful only because I _felt _something twisted and ugly taking root in my heart. Hatred. That infamous hatred that Naruto was always trying to quash… What a pity that his own teammate and friend ended up infected with it. I halfway didn't care anymore, either.

"You shouldn't be out in the rain, shinobi-san." Rena commented softly, then, the same easy and gentle way she spoke to me at the bar. She was a genuinely kind person and she wanted the best for us. I _wanted_ to hate her because she was everything I wasn't anymore. I wanted to hate her but I knew that was only because I hated myself more. I was stronger, I was leaner, I was smarter, I was more accomplished than her. But this woman had gotten what I wanted and more. She had _fun_ with my teammate, and then found the love of her life who accepted her for all her faults and all her good points. I had _nothing_ like that. All I had was the faces in my mind at night and a mountain of guilt on my chest. I had no one but myself and I _hated_ myself anyway. What a shitty situation.

"Sasuke." He finally introduced himself. 'Could've told her that when he _fucked_ her, shannaro!

"Rena." She smiled. I bit the inside of my lip until I tasted the iron-rich blood in my mouth. I was jealous, angry, irrational, upset, self-loathing, annoyed and trying to keep a cool demeanor. The emotions steamed and cooking inside of me, building pressure beneath the tight lid I kept them under. I was going to explode if I didn't remove myself from the situation… _now_.

"Move out of my way." I commanded emotionlessly, tired of their fucking nostalgic banter. I was satisfied to know my voice didn't shake. I sounded _dangerous_. I could _feel_ the worry coming from the couple to my side. I could _feel_ the defensiveness of my former teammate in front of me.

Tch. You want to know what pissed me off; what brought me to the brink of exploding? His eyes. Sasuke's _eyes_ pissed me off. I could tell he was calculating; estimating; gauging what my reaction would be. He was _planning_. Still, in this _fucked up, awkward_ situation he was _still_ actively working towards his goal. I _hated_ him for his efficiency. I _hated_ him for his imperviousness. And I hated Tsunade-sama for sending him here. I knew she sent him. If it were up to him he would've given chase the minute I left, head start or not. But he had contacted Tsunade first like an _obedient_ Konoha dog should. She had told him to wait. But wait for what? Maybe Naruto? Did Naruto arrive and feel out my emotions? Is that how they found me through this torrential rain that undoubtedly washed my scent away? Probably. Tsunade probably expected this. She probably sent a good sensor too, like Karin. Traitors. All of them. The battle between ice and fire in my chest raged on as Sasuke shook his head.

"I won't move until you talk to me." He finalized.

A murderous smirk made its way onto my face. Oh, he won't _move_?

"Hah… a-ha-ha!" A hysterical, psychotic laugh escaped my throat. He was _asking_ for it. _Good_.

"I'll give you one more chance; don't think I _won't_ bring you any anyone else who stands in my way down. _Move_." I was still a medic at my very core, pissed off or not. I didn't _want_ to hurt Aoi or Rena, despite what I had just found out, but if Sasuke pushed, I would _shove _right fucking back and his ties to Rena were going to fuck him in the ass tonight.

Aoi's eyes snapped from me to Sasuke. I could feel his panic rising. Yes, the good little mild-mannered Sakura _can_ damn well be a beast. I would sacrifice my friendship with them and their lives if I had to. _Yes_, I was threatening them. Sasuke looked like a cat after you messed with it too much. If he had cat ears they'd be pinned back.

"Sakura. You're being dramatic; you need to hear me out." He tried to reason, and for him that was definitely new, but I was _sick_ of his reasoning. My voice came out low and poisonous. I would've spat venom at him by now if I were anything but human.

"I've done enough 'hearing you out' and look where it got me. I don't think you get it, so let me put it plainly for you. _Fuck off or die, Uchiha_." I hissed and he stared back at me, unmoving, infuriatingly _unyielding_. Nothing in his expression looked like he was going to back down. I closed my eyes in frustration because this would cut my heart much more than it would cut his, but it had to be done.

"Fine." I muttered back. What's a little more guilt on my heart anyway? They were just two more faces to add on to the many that I felt guilt over. I summoned the tiniest bit of chakra into my fist. I made it so small, so precise out of my anger that I don't think Sasuke noticed what I was exactly packing. He tensed, as if I would actually hit him, as if it were actually _him_ I was targeting. I almost snorted derisively, but kept it to myself. I didn't want him to expect me to bring down the house… literally. The less he expects the better. I lifted my arm. He lifted both of his into the opening sign for his lightning jutsu. I tapped the doorway with my knuckles.

BOOM!

The house shook and _crumbled_. I jumped through the debris as they all stared at me and the house in shock.

"Shit!" I heard Sasuke curse.

"Aoiiii!" Rena screamed, but her voice was cut off the second I felt Sasuke's chakra flare into action. Maybe Sasuke had gotten to her and Aoi in time. Maybe he managed to pull them out of the way of the house coming down around them. Maybe they were close enough for him to save them; maybe they weren't. Either way, he wasn't following me. Everything happened in slow motion to me, but I knew it had only been a second, maybe two that all of this happened in and I was already running like hell, leaving the dust, debris and drama behind, guilt weighing heavily on my conscience.

Rena and Aoi had helped me. They had taken me in and fed me and kept me warm and told me stories and became my friends. I had endangered their lives as a result because I was _cornered_ by my own problems. It was a selfish, ugly thing to do, but I would _never_ compromise my morals. Ever. I would die and pickle my own remains before I healed Orochimaru. It couldn't be done. There was no way in hell I would bend to Konoha's whims. Sasuke will have to go tell Tsunade that I'm officially a nukenin.

Thunder crashed around me and the rain intensified as I kept my speed. I dropped a slow-acting sleeping powder as I jumped to avoid the falling house. I wondered if it was slowing Sasuke down yet. He had a high tolerance to most posions and drugs, so I had _no_ idea if they all made it out okay or not.

Thick, hot tears rolled down my cheeks, mixing with the rain that was pelting my face like Sasori's poison-dipped senbon. I was numb to the physical pain that spawned from the rain and the cold; the emotional pain was just too great. My legs burned like they were caught in a katon jutsu but I pushed them harder, I propelled myself forward faster and faster, until the fear that I may break my ankles settled in somewhere in my subconscious amongst the turmoil. It didn't matter of course; I could always heal any injuries I accrued at the cost of valuable time, so I ignored that thought and pressed forward because I _needed_ to move quickly.

I only had a few moments until he'd chase after me, if he was _able_ to chase after me. And damn Sasuke to hell, he was certainly faster than I could ever be. He was a better predator than I was. He had better hunting experience than I did. He had hunted his brother and succeeded _years_ before I even took my first anbu mission to track a target. Sasuke was _dangerous_, and I had _fucked_ with him. It was like poking a sleeping lion with a short stick. If I wasn't quick, he'd pounce and it would _hurt_ if I got caught… _if he was still conscious_…

He wouldn't bother with talking next time. There would be violence and on top of the anger he'd undoubtedly unleash on me, it was _raining_. That meant that his lightning-style would _fuck_ me if I fought him now. I was disadvantaged. It wouldn't bode well for me if he caught me. It would be a bloody _mess_ if he caught me. That fear, mixed with rage at myself for _still_ not being stronger than him—than _either_ of my boys— who aren't exactly my boys anymore—pushed me forward.

I had a head start. I wasn't leaving foot prints. I was covering a lot of ground whilst covering my tracks simultaneously. I just had to get myself far away enough for Karin not to sense me, because I was _sure_ Tsunade had sent her along with Naruto and Sasuke to get me. I had to keep going beyond my breaking point because there was no telling how far they would chase me if they had already begun to do so. I had to last longer than they could.

There was only one thing in my favor in that regard and that was Karin. If she was in fact hanging back there somewhere with Naruto, she would slow him down once Sasuke sent word that I ran. Now, she wasn't shit at traveling, but her stamina was lower than mine. They would have to stop frequently. And Sasuke had his hands tied at the moment. There was a chance that even if Karin _wasn't_ with them they'd regroup and go crying back to Tsunade-sama. There was just a slight chance and by then I'd be long gone. _Long_ gone and in uncharted territory. I pressed North, as if my guilt was the thing that was chasing me, biting at my heels.

It would be a total _nightmare_ if Naruto knew what was going on and was chasing after me _right now_. I checked over my shoulder out of paranoia. To my utter relief, there was no sign of a glowing, yellow person. No loud voice calling my name. No Naruto. Thank kami-sama.

My heart pounded furiously like a drummer playing his instrument much too fast for his own good. My pulse was _racing_. My panic kept me alert and paranoid. Run! Run! _Run_!

The _stupidity_ of my actions was only now catching up to me. Back there at Rena's house, my mind was focused on getting revenge for the hurt I was suppressing. My focus was on tearing Sasuke apart, mentally as much as I could. I had succeeded, but only now did I realize that I'd hurt and pissed off the most dangerous man in the _world_ next to Naruto himself who would probably be disappointed in me. A disappointed Naruto was just as dangerous as a pissed off Sasuke. Naruto's failures and disappointments only made him try harder, like Lee on a youth-high back in the day. He would probably succeed. Nothing short of a God or someone of Sasuke's caliber could get in Naruto's way when he had his mind set on something.

And Sasuke.

Now, my fury scared most people… I was threatening when angry. Some people down-right avoided entire sections of the village when they realized I was mad. But Sasuke…? The fact that he had been so calm these last four years unnerved me. There wasn't a peep uttered about him ever losing his coold after he came back. He'd been calm. Calmer than I'd ever seen him, especially during that week we spent together. He wasn't fun-loving like Naruto, don't get me wrong, he didn't get a complete personality make-over, but it was clear that he had calmed down, certainly.

That calmness that he had acquired _scared_ me more than anything. Calm people were _not_ fun to piss off. Like Sai. I heard how deadly Sai became when he lost his shit during the war. If Sasuke of all people found a zen-mode… his "not-zen-mode" must be outright _hellish_ and I did _not_ want to experience that considering the fact that he _did_ have chakra stores that massively overshadowed my own. I shuddered at what could happen if we ended up clashing.

My lungs and throat were starting to burn. How long have I been running? I didn't care. If I stopped now my teammates would probably work together to crucify me. I just had to run and hide and maybe try to find a way to _change_ my chakra signature like Rena had assumed was possible when I first met her.

Kami-sama this situation went from bad to worse in just a couple of days. I wonder how much worse it could possibly get…

…Yyyyyyee~ah, let's_ not_ think about that.

I was going to have a mental breakdown as soon as I stopped somewhere. Seriously.

I can't fucking believe this. First, my shisho orders that I heal my worst enemy. _Sasuke_—one of the first few people to be victimized by _that same enemy_—agreedto just follow orders like some _bitch_. Naruto, the one person who I thought would side with me hunted me down along with one of my friends and on top of everything I found out that the one friend I had made slept with my childhood crush… _and_ took his virginity, not that that mattered. The man is fucking beautiful; it was bound to happen eventually, but still. It's information I would have been better off not knowing, or not finding out so directly.

It didn't help that she had bigger boobs than me and now I was starting to feel self-conscious again. It had been years since I felt that way, but I couldn't help it now.

More tears dripped down my face. That asshole. I loved him when I was fifteen. And he slept with someone. He _slept _with someone and had the fucking _balls_ to say my name in his sleep. I'm tired of feeling like shit. I'm tired of these things happening to me. I'm going to cut those two out of my life even if I have to bring myself to death's door to do it.

-X-

Two nights later, I awoke in the middle of the night. I was sleeping in a tree, in a dark forest, using my dark cloak to shield myself from the rain as well as any potential enemies that may be passing by. I awoke because I _sensed_ him. At first, I just thought it was a dream. I sensed him in my dream but the anbu training kicked in and my eyes flew open. It _was_ Sasuke. Sasuke and _Karin_, if I wasn't mistaken. They were just hitting the cusp of my sensory range. That's too close for comfort. Poor Karin. She's terrified of Sasuke and I'm sure he ordered her to help him track me down.

I heard the call of a hawk sound in between rumbles of thunder. Shit. They were close; _so_ close! I minimized my chakra as much as possible and practically stumbled off of the low tree branch I was sleeping on. I was still sleepy and the slippery bark under my feet wasn't helping. The rain here was mixed with ice and I wouldn't be surprised if it turned into hail or snow further North.

My legs protested and the violent wind whipped my face as I launched off of the branch of the creaking and swaying tree. I didn't have time to massage my abused limbs at this point. I flipped over branches and set wire-traps and explosive tags as I moved, even though the traps might not even get set off. My muscles hurt _so_ badly. By my estimation I had only slept a few hours and it was close to maybe three or four in the morning. How could Karin have made it this far this fast?! The realization blew my sleep-fogged mind as I finally fully awoke.

Only Sasuke or Naruto could cover that distance in such a short amount of time, but I was _sure_ it was Sasuke and Karin out there, not Sasuke and Naruto. _Sasuke— that son of a bitch!_ He probably fucking ended up _carrying_ her, if only to have her ability to track at hand. As I fully shook off the after-sleep lag, I noticed a suppressed semi-familiar chakra with them that I vaguely remembered but couldn't recognize. They were fucking catching up and there were _three_ of them. The nearest chakra signatures ahead of me weren't too far away either. There was _definitely_ a town of some sort up ahead. I couldn't tell how big or small it was. I wasn't _that_ great of a sensor.

The woods gradually thinned as I hauled ass over seemingly endless amounts of tree branches. I broke through the tree-line, and took in an exhilarating breath of cold, mountain air. A huge, stone wall greeted me not even two feet out of the woods.

I launched myself at it and stuck to it with chakra like some sort of bug and then made my way up and over it, careful not to slip on the ice tacked onto the stone in some spots. Once I infiltrated the sleepy mountain-town, I stealthily perched on a rooftop to observe my surroundings. There was no one about, really, aside from what looked like guards that carried heavy-looking metal spears. All the little wooden houses were dark and there didn't seem to be any active electricity flowing through this town. I really _was_ on the edge of society.

Panting from pain and exertion, I hopped down into an alleyway, breezed past a shivering, homeless man under a heavy cloak, found the town's tavern and ducked in there. Maybe if I mingled my hidden chakra in between the tiny individual chakras of other civilians, I could hide from Karin's ability. Maybe if I had any dumb luck left at all she was still mad enough at Sasuke to lie to him about my exact location.

Thankfully, the warm tavern was _packed_. Hunters all the size of Juugo or bigger danced to music I couldn't recognize on creaky wooden floorboards, laughing and talking in a language that sounded like a broken version of the common tongue. They were certainly mountain men, and definitely fur trappers and hard workers. They were celebrating with ale and something that smelled similar to beer, cheerfully laughing and slapping each other on the back. No one noticed me walk into the rustic, woodsy tavern with my dark hood up. I stuck to the shadows as much as I could.

I wanted to keep my candy-colored hair hidden as best as possible. I slid into a seat between two large groups of men and focused on sensing without being sensed. Stretched across the bar were four, large male deer and a moose. I was able to gather that the party was to celebrate the capture of the animals. Maybe this town's economics functioned on hunting; meats and furs and those sorts of things. Whatever.

"A'nth'ng ta' dr'nk miss?" I just barely understood the question that the handsome bartender asked. His olive green eyes seemed happy and he smiled at me with full lips as he cleaned a tankard. His messy brown hair was unkempt and fell into wild, short waves and cowlicks around his head, but for a country Northsman he was pretty good-looking anyway. A little bigger than the average shinobi, but no less handsome. He wore a dark, collared tunic and brown slacks of some sort with odd close-toed shoes. I am _so_ far away from home…

"Whatever they're having." I replied in the only tongue I knew. His eyes narrowed in confusion and he tilted his head to the side.

"N' from 'round 'here?" He asked.

"No." I kept my expression neutral and like all bartenders, country or not, he understood that I wasn't here for conversation and merriment. His attitude changed immediately. He nodded and ducked to the side to make me something. I didn't know if the small amount of money I had left would be accepted here. I could always just threaten his life if he forced me to pay. A few fingers bent too far backwards always went a long way for men who didn't know any better.

I had a tankard full of something sweet-smelling in front of me on the wooden bar table seconds later, and I sipped and focused on my pursuers and their chakra that was _just_ coming into my sensory range. I had out-ran them, but not for long. Sasuke was by himself just at the entrance to the town. This place probably had gate guards. I snickered. He should've just snuck in like I did. He was going to have trouble getting past them if he couldn't give them a good enough reason, if they could even understand him to begin— _shit_!

A little fluctuation of chakra from him and the gate guards' small chakras evened out to a mesmerizing pattern. Genjutsu. They gave him trouble so he put them to sleep.

_Fuck_.

He moved through the town slowly, exactly like a lion would stalk up on its prey. I squashed my chakra as low as I could, but then, something terrifying happened. His roiling, steady chakra diminished into nothing as well. He stopped at the inn I passed first before fading out of my sensory capabilities. _Shit_.

I snorted to myself anyway and thankfully no one heard me. I thought about going to the inn, but that was a dumb idea. I would be too easily found that way. It was easy to defend myself in a more public place like an inn because Sasuke would not want to cause a ruckus and damn it I can cause a scene if I wanted to, _but_ it would be too easy to pinpoint me, and keep an eye on me… wait for me to leave or be alone. I couldn't hide in an inn _forever_. Try again, Uchiha.

The group started to mingle around my hunched form on the bar stool. Good. I could hide. These guys were so big it would be _easy _to get lost in their group. Hopefully Sasuke would peek in, not see me immediately and move on to the next establishment, if there was another one open, but I wasn't counting on it... What should I do? He's too close, I'm tired and I honestly can't push myself anymore. This game of shogi was going to have to end soon and I did _not_ want to face him, despite not having many options left.

But, he was by himself, meaning he dumped Karin and whoever else in the woods and came in here to look for me himself. For all he knows I could've left the town already. He was worse at sensing than I was by _a lot_. Shit, if I'm lucky I could just hide in the women's bathroom or something. He wouldn't look there, right? ... Is there even a women's bathroom in here?

The door opened. Cheers rang out throughout the warmly-lit tavern. People urged someone to come join them in the broken-common-language I would never get used to hearing. I peeked through a gap between two huge guys and spotted my _worst_ nightmare. There stood Sasuke, in full anbu regalia, his hair matted to his face from the rain. He looked, _bewildered _at the cheerful state these mountain-men were in.

His hood was down, and his mask was hidden somewhere, no doubt to seem more approachable. His eyes scanned the room quickly and then flicked to some fur-and-leather-covered guy who had drunkenly clapped a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke's entire body reverberated from the weighted contact and then my gap of vision closed up because more people crowded around. I snapped my head back at my ale. Sasuke was unscathed. Not a single scratch. Not even a single tear in his uniform. I wondered what had happened to Aoi and Rena. Guilt flashed along with their faces in my mind.

Country-bartender-guy's face was practically in mine the next second after that thought. I leaned back away from the bar and glared at him for getting into my personal space.

"Y'need t' run? That fello' looks mad as' hell." He whispered, and his green eyes looked mischievous. He'd be sexy if he spoke the common language properly. I tried not to judge his intelligence by his language. It was hard not to. As anbu you had to make judgments and decisions quickly. I peered at him, knowing Sasuke would more than likely search this place thoroughly.

This guy was all I had. My last move to escape from Konoha.

I nodded quickly and he motioned for me to scoot under the bar counter and over to his side. Another cheer erupted from the entire room. Had Sasuke agreed to join the crowd, if only to get closer to the bar and find me? I didn't have time to look. I was under that wooden counter and clasping that guys hand the next second. He pulled me toward some back doorway covered in a leather curtain. We moved quickly and quietly, but before I could even cross the threshold, I heard a dull, but all-too-familiar _thunk _and noticed that my cloak had gotten pinned to the wooden wall next to me… with a kunai.

My head snapped to the side to make sure that the kunai didn't have an exploding tag attached to it. After assessing that no one was trying to blow me up, I dropped my too-late savior's hand and spun to face my fate. Sasuke was there, but he didn't look angry, just determined. His eyes were sharingan red, the black tomoe lazily spinning. It was hard not to gaze at them, even from this far away. The way the tomoe spun around— almost as if they were each individually analyzing what he was looking at— was mesmerizing. It was amazing that I was even able to tell he wasn't mad; the sharingan had a bad habit of looking menacing… Sasuke put his hands up in a controlled manner that insinuated complacency and surrender…

…and then he did the oddest thing…

He sat down… and started to sip on the drink I had left behind, the party continuing around him.

"O' p'haps I was w'rong." Bartender-guy shrugged and let me go, abandoning me to go fill someone else's drinks. _Coward_.

Sasuke watched me from the corner of his eyes, tempting me to sit and talk in peace. I _could_ walk away. I _could_, but he looked like he was almost _pleading _with me. His eyes bled back to black and the emotion and thoughts were clear on his face for me to read.

_Please, Sakura_.

It fucking tore my heart apart. I didn't _want to_. I didn't _want_ to talk to him. _Fuck_ them all. But the anger wasn't enough, because logic won over, and I admitted to myself that I was being childish. Running away would never solve this problem, and Sasuke looked like he wanted to help. Maybe it was fucked up of me to hurt him… to hurt Rena and Aoi… I felt the tears come to my eyes again, but I forced them back. I would _never_ cry in front of this man again. _Ever_.

I squared my shoulders, plucked the kunai trapping the bottom of my cloak from the wooden wall, and sauntered over to the section of the bar I previously ducked under and flowed over to the other side again. Bartender guy shot me a smile from the other side of the bar and I glared at him evilly until he frowned and looked away. Asshole. I had counted on him and he just _ditched_ me at the first sign of trouble. A real man would've stayed behind and did his best to stall the enemy.

…I'm thinking too much like a shinobi. I can't hold a civilian to shinobi standards. It was a miracle he was even helping someone like me. Surely he's heard of shinobi right? The anger wilted from me and tension replaced it in my chest as I drew nearer and nearer to Sasuke... I eventually squeezed into the seat next to him after ducking behind some big dude drinking with his best friend… or lover. I couldn't tell anymore. The line between friends and lovers was blurring between them…rapidly. Whatever; I sat down and bartender-guy slid over a tankard of apology-drink. I took a huge gulp, tired and weary of running and feeling so angry. Sasuke did too. Speaking of being so angry… how did Sasuke ever _manage_ it? He was angry for over half of his life. Didn't he ever just get _tired _of it? I'd been angry for close to a week and I was _exhausted. _The drink was good. Greedily, I gulped more. 

I snorted. After everything, we were back in a bar together where all of this craziness and confusion started. The hollering, shouting and hand-clapping continued around us to the odd music that was playing and I kept thinking about that night in Hofuku.

"I'm not against you." It was the first thing he said to interrupt my thoughts. Was it the most important for me to know? If Sasuke spoke he always made sure his words counted. I still couldn't be sure. He ran his fingers through his matted hair and shook most of the water off onto the fur coat of the man next to him. His hair stuck up in the back and even though I was mad at him I _wanted _to laugh just because the back of his head looked like a duck's ass again. I squashed the laughter. We had more important things to talk about.

"Is that so?" I drawled in my most disbelieving, sarcastic tone.

"It is." He practically growled back. "You left before you listened to the whole story."

My anger bubbled up again in response to his aggravation with me. How _dare _he be angry with me! After everything I had seen come from _that_ man!

"I don't _care_ what the story is!" My patience snapped like a rubber band stretched too far. I slammed the cheap metal tankard onto the bar and the alcohol spilled out of it. I shouted loudly enough for the gay couple next to me and the burly friends next to Sasuke to quiet and shoot us confused glances. Sasuke grabbed my arm and pulled me close.

"Not here." He growled into my ear and then he got up, left money I'd never seen before on the table—that he probably looted off of the gate guards— and dragged me towards the door. I don't know why I followed him out into the torrential rain. I don't know why I let him drag me around. I was so tired. I was so angry and so aggravated and at this point he had more control over the situation than I did. He was calm. I wasn't. He was still functioning when I didn't want to and most importantly he was _here_ and he wasn't attacking me like I thought he would. Would you be angry if I said I couldn't help it? That I _wanted _to cling to the hope that _maybe_ he'd help make some sense out of everything and give me the security I _needed_?

We walked to the inn we had both passed by at some point and I reluctantly kept my mouth shut as he genjutsu'd the clerk at the wooden desk lit dimly with candles. Still holding my hand—when did he even switch to holding my hand?—he pulled me around the desk and the clerk, with his beard, face and hat shoved into the crook of his arm on top of the desk, and to the wooden wall behind the clerk where there were many keys hanging from round keychairs on nails.

He took an available, large iron key with a wooden tag attached to it. The tag had a black, "5" painted on it. Sasuke looked it over, shrugged ever-so-slightly to himself and continued pulling me past the desk after him. I didn't even care that we were technically committing a crime that could be internationally punishable. I was numb from everything the last few days of existing had dumped on me and how quickly my life had changed just by _seeing _that snake again after so many years.

Sasuke dragged me all over until we finally found room five. He unlocked the door, guided me through and locked it back behind us. In the pitch blackness he summoned his lightning to his hand. I avoided him like the plague and watched from afar how the raw energy crackled around him as he illuminated a wooden side-table next to a mattress that was covered in furs and stale-looking sheets.

I don't care what the fuck happens in the next half hour or so, I know I will _not_ be sitting on that bed. Like ever.

He lit the candle atop the side table with a controlled katon jutsu and used it to light the other candles in the room. With just a few puffs of breath, there was a soft warm glow and the room gently began to heat up. The entire room was wooden.

Next to the window stood an ancient-looking round table with two chairs. Sasuke threw his body into one and pressed his forehead into his palm. He was tired too. I just stood there. I wanted to be able to knock him out and crash through the window, then run if I had to, but annoyingly, I wanted more to just sit with him like we did at is apartment back when things were only mildly complicated. I was torn between what I wanted to do and what was the right thing to do. He seemed to regain himself and sighed, motioning towards the other wooden chair.

"Sit." He commanded.

I glared at him and crossed my arms. He rolled his eyes and frowned.

"Please."

I looked to the chair, then back to the exhaustion evident in his eyes. I looked back at the chair. Then I looked back at his conflicted expression as he waited patiently for me to decide. Begrudgingly, I slowly dropped my arms and sat in the chair. There was a single, thick blue candle in between us with three lit wicks. The faint smell of seasalt hit my nose as Iooked at the little flames, instead of his face.

"Will you let me tell you why I want to complete this mission?" He asked, just a _slight_ bit of annoyance in his otherwise gentle tone. I didn't even know he could sound gentle in the first place. His voice was starting to soothe me, but with it, I remembered the rage and pain of my friend betraying me. Did he sound like that when he fucked her? Why do I even care? Maybe I cared out of pride. I _loved_ him at that point in time. I loved him and he was off doing _that_ whereas it took me _years_ to be comfortable enough with a man to have sex. It pissed me off. It made me wonder what other things he had been doing in that compound with _that_ man. Was he solely focused on training or did he hurt others while he was there? It made me distrust him.

"Do I _look_ like I'm going anywhere?" I responded with annoyance in my tone. My eyes snapped up to his and the dark orbs looked so, _so_ old and so tired. I wanted not to fucking care. He shut his eyes for a moment and sighed.

"Two of my comrades died last week."

What?

"They might've been your comrades too. One of them wore a rat mask, the other a bull. Rat had freed me once from an earth-style jutsu before it crushed me and Bull had thrown shuriken to keep a few poisoned senbon from hitting me on a separate mission." He began in a detached tone, like he didn't want to think about what he was saying. I _knew_ those anbu. Sarutobi Kei was "Rat" and Aburame Rii was "Bull". I had worked with them too, once. They were _very_ reliable teammates. My stomach churned. But now they were _dead_? Was that really why I hadn't seen them recently? No _wonder_ Kei was so late for his annual when I looked over his file… I frowned at Sasuke.

"Do you know where they were found?" His eyes were so dark and fathomless and sad…

I didn't want to hear this. I contemplated getting up, but his eyes warned me not to. They had sharpened in an instant and pierced me much like that kunai pierced my cloak and stuck me to the wall back at that bar. I stayed put, even though this topic was leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"They were found just outside of Suna. They would've made it had they not been poisoned and running across such a long distance. Want to know who poisoned them and what's been going on?"

I thought he would just continue talking, but he stayed quiet and watched me, eyes, studying everything from my hair to my uniform. I realized he _wanted_ an answer.

"Fine." I reluctantly replied, only in honor of Kei and Rii.

"They were sent on a scouting mission beyond Suna's deserts; in the West. Gaara's patrol units have been getting ambushed and killed by troves of people Suna can't identify so he asked Tsunade for help. The first few Konoha teams sent out were killed as well. One member from the second team survived. He said, 'they spoke a language I couldn't understand' and passed out into a coma right outside of Suna. That was Salamander. He's still there while these people keep pushing East towards Suna. Would you rather send Shikamaru out there to spy and decipher the language at the same time or Orochimaru?"

I had never heard Sasuke speak so much in my entire life. There was silence after he finished. I stared at him. He stared at me. Then it hit me. It hit me just how serious this issue was. There was an unknown enemy out there heading for one of my close friends, for Gaara. For Kankuro. For Temari. How many Suna and Konoha shinobi have died so far? How many more will die before we can start gathering intel that actually makes sense to us? Sasuke was asking me to choose between my grudge and my loved ones.

It wasn't fair. Everything wasn't fair. Orochimaru doesn't deserve to walk free after what he did. Sasuke doesn't deserve to ask me to think about the people I care for. How many times had Naruto and I asked him to think about us? How many times did he ignore us before he finally saw sense? It wasn't fair and on top of that my comrades are dying. Kei, Rii… how many others are dead that I have yet to find out about!?

The frustration built and before I knew it, the tears came. They usurped my control of myself. Everything I had found out about these last few days finally overloaded me. I was exhausted from the lack of sleep and running for miles and miles on end. I let out a small sob and stood up before Sasuke could reach over. I jerked away from his touch and retreated to the only window in the room.

Why? Why on Earth am I here in this stupid cabin in this stupid town in the stupid mountains in this icy country _crying_ in front of the man who had hurt me more times than I can count!? Why do I have to heal a monster to save my friends!? I took a deep breath and built a steel wall against the anger, sadness, futility and exhaustion I felt. I took a few seconds to try to control every emotion.

All my trying was for nothing when I felt the weight of Sasuke's hands on my shoulders. I sobbed again.

"I don't want to cry in front of you. Go away." I blubbered through sniffles. I'm so embarrassed I wanna die. On top of everything else; on top of Kei and Rii dying, I'm embarrassed. I lost my composure. Again. I'm crying in front of Sasuke. _Again_. I lost my dignity, my upper hand. I lost everything all because he opened his mouth and spoke about the length of a fucking paragraph! I didn't even hear him get up and walk over to me. I'm pathetic. I'm a loser. He squeezed my shoulders ever so slightly in comfort. It didn't give me the comfort and security I needed. It made me more self-conscious, if anything.

"I'll give you an hour, but I'm coming back."

His voice was so close to my ear. It was just like that one night when I was twelve and he left. I cried harder as I remembered that he had gotten behind me back then too and soon after I was unconscious. And here he was tonight, behind me with me crying big, sloppy wet tears, staining the wooden floor beneath my feet. I had gotten absolutely nowhere in eight years… I was right back where I fucking started and even worse, my birthday is in two weeks. I will be working on rewriting my sworn enemy's DNA and won't even get to celebrate. This fucking _sucks_.

He was gone just as I had that thought. I waited until I felt him leave my sensory range, not even caring where he went before I dropped to my knees and hugged myself. I wailed in misery. I wanted this to be a nightmare. I wanted everything to just go away. With the smallest bit of remaining fury I picked myself up off the floor.

_Fuck you too, Kami-sama. Thanks for the shitty situation. _

I threw myself onto the fur-covered bed that I promised myself I wouldn't even sit on when I still had my shit together. At this point I didn't care. After wrapping my cloak around myself I cried myself to sleep because tomorrow, I would have to do something fucked up to save my friends and family.

-X-

I woke up to the familiar feeling of someone rubbing circles into my shoulder. Where am I? Am I still at Sasuke's? The musty smell of sheets and wood and rain hit my nose and my eyes flew open, head popping up off the pillow in a rush. That _wasn't_ a nightmare…

"Shhh…"

I hadn't realized I said anything before I realized I had indeed gasped. Sasuke had his finger on his lips. The early light of dawn was just starting to lighten the sky. I heard footsteps in the hallway. They weren't urgent but they were there and we were here, _quite illegally_. Sasuke nodded and I nodded back. Silently, stealthily like wraiths we made our escape through the window. I don't know how long he had let me sleep for. It was definitely more than just an hour. I didn't bitch at him, though. We had to escape this town without being noticed. Thankfully that wasn't hard. We were in the forest within minutes and no one had noticed us. We stopped on a tree branch. I was less tired than before. To my surprise Sasuke sat down. I remained standing.

"Sit."

I glared at him. Why were we repeating this process? I was still upset and confused and I did _not_ want to sit with him. He shot me a glare back and I rolled my eyes, huffed and sat next to him. He held his hands in his lap for a minute before he looked up at the sky. I wondered where Karin and that other chakra had gone off to…

"What happened to Karin and the other person?" I asked.

"We ran into Suigetsu while tracking you. They went back to Rena's village to help Naruto rebuild the half of the house that you destroyed. He shot me a nasty glare for that one.

"They're alive?" I asked softly. He nodded.

"They're asleep." He then clarified. "Naruto wants to rebuild everything before they wake up." He sounded annoyed when he said that. I thought it was pointless too. Pointless, but sweet. I felt bad for making Naruto clean up a mess I made. We were silent for a few moments. I listened to the early birds chirp after the storm. Only one or two chirped at first, then there were three or four. Their groggy chirping eventually turned into singing. For the moment, everything was peaceful.

"I wanted to say that I don't like the idea either." I looked over at him and he was looking at something I couldn't identify with a pained expression. I looked straight ahead too, because I knew he probably wouldn't appreciate me staring.

"What idea?"

"The idea of him roaming around, healthy." I peeked over once more and saw him glaring. He seemed frustrated. "But I've been thinking…" And now there was determination.

"…And your thinking is going to make this more complicated." I finished, unhappily. He smirked and gave a half laugh.

"Maybe but you're complicated too so you'll understand." He shot back snidely. I crossed my arms.

"I don't know if that's a complement or an insult." I replied, only half-pissed at him. He shrugged.

"It's worth considering…"

I was interested now.

"Go on…"

"…" For a moment he was silent and I could tell he was trying to think about how to put his thoughts into words. "Remember the cursed seal?" He asked quietly. He knew it was a sensitive topic. Of course I remembered that stupid thing. It ruined _everything_. I still wondered when he had gotten rid of it.

"Yes." My response came out colder than I wanted it to. Sasuke turned to me and studied me for a moment. I looked away, at his shoulder. Sometimes he made me nervous.

"When I had it, it made me think things. It made me dream certain things." He explained. I looked back up at him strangely.

"My point is, you're going to rewrite his DNA… right?"

I nodded, before my eyes widened and I connected the dots.

"You want me to curse-seal him with my own curse-seal?" I asked. He shrugged, his expression intense and focused.

"I don't know if you know fuuin-jutsu well enough. But why not wire some sort of…" He waved his hand around because he couldn't think of the word. "…_thing_ that makes him _not_ have the option of doing… what he did before…?" He then searched my face, trying to read me for any signs of approval. I thought it over and looked down at my hands in my lap. I studied the wear and tear in my gloves. I had put some strain on them flying through the trees last night in my panic. I would've leaned on something to think more, but Sasuke was nearest to the trunk of the tree and I certainly wasn't going to lean against _him_.

"I could try…" I replied, but I had no clue where to start.

"I'll go back to the bases and search for anything I can find to get you started."

"Why not just ask him yourself?"

He gave me a flat look that was asking me if I was really serious in asking him that.

"Do you really want him prepared for that sort of thing?"

"Well, no. Of course not. I'd rather surprise him with it too. He won't be able to counter against it that way."

Sasuke nodded. And then he smirked.

"Tsunade will not like you sealing up her boyfriend."

"_What_?" I asked venomously. How could he even insinuate— His face was serious. He wasn't smirking anymore. "You're not serious." I was in denial. They weren't— they couldn't be—

"_I had a crush on that type when I was your age too." _I remember that conversation… it was when I first started studying under shisho. _"Funny how he left the village, too_…_just like yours…_" It hit me later that she was talking about that son of a bitch, but… _now_? When the fuck did this happen!?

"I didn't want to overload you last night." I must've looked like a wide-eyed fish at this point. My hand flew to my bangs again… then I smacked my forehead. They had been writing to each other for kami-sama only knows how long… Orochimaru had held up a letter himself to prove it. What if through writing they had _reconnected_? I looked at Sasuke. Like Sasuke and I sort of did… But they were more than friends and my stomach churned. _My _shisho… with _that_… that _thing_ of a man?

…

Ew.

…

"I felt the same way." For once Uchiha Sasuke looked understanding.

I felt sick. My stomach gurgled loudly. Sasuke backed his face away, expecting me to throw up on him.

"Gross…"

"Hn."

That sounded like an agreement.

"I guess I have a lot of cosmetic work to do too."

Sasuke snorted and I grabbed my head and laughed deliriously.

"You're all going to drive me crazy. And this isn't the first time I'm thinking Tsunade-sama will be the death of me." I mentioned.

"Why do you think I left?" He joked. I decked his shoulder as he smirked and flicked my forehead in retaliation. I didn't bother to dodge. He stood up and held out a hand. I held up mine and got up on my own. Afterwards, we took off, back towards wherever. I was going to need to talk to Tsunade-sama as soon as possible. I was going to chew her out for this. For all of this, because even though I felt better than yesterday and even though Sasuke had given me a pretty good idea and some hope, I was still going to have to fix someone I didn't want fixed…

But the fact that I had someone willing to help me prevent such awful things happening again put a small smile on my face anyway.

-X-

Holy shit, man. 22 pages. I hope I went through all the emotions correctly. I hope I kept everyone in-character! God I'm so nervous. I hope you guys liked this.

**SPOILER AHEAD!  
**Kishimoto sucks. I hope you guys realize why I hate him. I now have to somehow incorporate his shitty plot into my work. I'm so pissed with what he's done. Sasuke's so _stupid_ in cannon I swear! Naruto's making more sense about Itachi at this point and Sasuke's just being a bitch! PLUS Kishimoto did the unforgivable and torpedoed SS Sasusaku. _That_ made me angry and the plot just went downhill from there. Ugh. Yes I'm still not over that. At this point I really think it's going to be Kakasaku. Kishimoto suspiciously drew those two together in a lot of panels. And even worse Sakura was all like "Kakashi-sensei! Omg!" In the last few chapters. *Evil Glare* I am _so_ not happy!

**SPOILER OVER!**

I'm so excited to write from Sasuke's POV next chapter. I've had enough of Sakura, honestly. LOL

Btw I have a new crack-ship. Yes, yes I do. Anyone else aboard the SS Madasaku? Because if it's done right, I actually like it lmfao

See ya later Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah I don't own Naruto ® ™ Yadda, yadda, I already asked Kishimoto for the rights to his creation but he said no and then killed Sasusaku to make a point to me. *sigh* You can't fucking win nowadays.


	28. SASUKE ARC PART I

KISEKI

Before my feedback about your reviews…. Chapter 700… of Naruto… *moment of silence* We'll talk about this at the end of this chapter.

|28|

Daaaaaaaamn so much hate and love in the reviews for last chapter. They were quite entertaining to read. Trust me, I dislike Orochimaru just as much as you guys do, but life isn't always perfect. Sometimes you have to choose the lesser of evils. Sometimes you have to conform or assimilate to a necessary evil. If life were really such a wonderful place that worked out just right there wouldn't be room for great story-telling or learning. "Life lessons" as we call them wouldn't exist.

And just like with all the negative heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, soul-killing bad stuff in life, there is equally good stuff too, like happiness, laughter, fun times, jokes, merriment, hope and optimism. I'm trying to incorporate both of these sides of reality into this fic. I'm trying to make this story as true-to-life and as true-to-Naruto as I can with maybe some minor, and I mean _minor_ tweaks here and there.

Regardless, I appreciated the reviews with all of my heart! I love making some sort of impact on you guys. I hope I can keep delivering chapters that you guys want to read. Also, I apologize for the long wait. I had a research paper and a journal assignment and a test and another test and yet another small paper and blah blah _blah_ boring real-life stuff unrelated to Naruto much to my disappointment.

Also this chapter marks the beginning of the Sasuke Arc. The next few chapters will be pure Sasuke because I feel like we can all identify with the fact that we know close to nothing about medicine much like our favorite Uchiha, lol.

As always, thank you eternally and enjoy.

-X-

**SASUKE ARC PART 1**

We finally got to the house a few days later after some tense plotting here and there while we rested from running. As soon as she walked in, Sakura man-handled poor, defenseless Samzara, marched upstairs, completely ignoring the two Uzumaki in Orochimaru's living room, who were both exhausted from rebuilding a house and with just her presence silenced the entire first floor occupied by about four people, not including myself. I heard a door slam shut somewhere upstairs. It slammed so hard you would think she was going to go beat Samzara to death. I worried for the little snake. I didn't use snakes often, I preferred hawks, but Samza was one of my favorites because she connected me with people. And she was polite.

"Oh boy, Baa-chan's going to _really_ get it…" Naruto broke the awkward silence with only half of his usual energy from his place on the violet loveseat. His legs were draped over Karin's lap, feet dangling off of the arm of the couch since he was longer than it, and his arms seemed to have been flung off the edge of the couch and over the back of it. He craned his neck over the arm it was positioned on and greeted me with a dull expression, though I knew him well enough to see the accomplished gleam behind his tired eyes. I guess he managed to rebuild the house Sakura demolished before Aoi and Rena woke up from the sleeping gas.

"Yo, teme."

He looked almost dead, honestly. Karin was _glaring_ at her cup of tea positioned in her hands, resting on one of Naruto's shins like she didn't trust it. She was wearing the same fitted jounin uniform as before and her hair was up in a tail. I heard a toilet flush somewhere in the house. Naruto rolled his eyes. I awkwardly waited as Suigetsu walked out of the bathroom to my left. He smirked when he saw me. I was not in the mood for his shit.

"So, you got your girlfriend to come back?" Suigetsu grinned like a shark about to have its meal. I rolled my eyes. I was tired of him insinuating that Sakura's my girlfriend. She's _not_. Not yet at least. I had to give the idiot credit, however, because he knew his way around people. Suigetsu had guessed pretty quickly that I cared about the "teammate" we were chasing after when we ran into him in the woods. I wasn't surprised that he was surprised. It's been four years since he last saw me after the war. I was different back then. I was surprised that he had remembered Sakura, though not pleasantly. _"Eh? You mean that pink-haired girl with the nice ass? Haha! Good pick, man!" _

I sighed to myself. Orochimaru was sipping quietly on his teacup on his violet arm chair, his gnarled wooden cane resting against the arm of the chair like some sort of sick reminder that even the strongest fall eventually. It's a fucking miracle that he hadn't died while we were gone. He looked like he was about to drop his teacup and close his eyes forever as it is. I wondered if Tsunade had sent us on this mission _early_ to account for any kind of drama Sakura would surely cause…

Orochimaru looked relieved, but I had enough sense to keep myself from being smug around him. He wasn't going to be so happy to be alive when he realizes Sakura is going to enslave him to her. Orochimaru is cunning. He's intelligent. But he's overzealous. Sakura is logical. Systematic. Smart. She'll be able to pull our plan off. I trudged over to the table at the same time as Suigetsu. We both sat on opposite ends of the rounded glass furniture. Orochimaru was going to need to get more chairs if he was planning on keeping this many people here…

"The tea isn't poisoned, Karin." Orochimaru commented in his sand-paper voice. It made me grit my teeth. Karin sniffed at him. Naruto grinned at her.

"No worries, Karin-chan! I already drank it and it's fine!" Naruto reassured, his energy already starting to return. It put the redhead at ease and slowly, hesitantly, she sipped on the tea. Karin and Naruto had formed some sort of brother-sister bond at some point, probably because they were the first two who reinstated the Uzumaki clan. If she was scared, at the very least she always trusted Naruto. She would have probably stabbed me with a kunai if Naruto hadn't told her to just trust me. I wouldn't have been able to find Sakura without her.

…

Speaking of which… About two seconds after I finished that thought, we all heard muffled shouts from upstairs and something slamming against a wall. Sakura had probably thrown a chair or a table, because the sound of wood splintering accompanied the loud bang.

Orochimaru sighed, and stirred his teacup with a spoon, like an old man used to such things. As if Sakura was just another rambunctious child.

"Just like Tsuna." He muttered afterwards.

"Ew old people romance." Naruto grimaced. I didn't speak but I silently agreed. We shared a look and he smirked.

"Thanks for getting Sakura-chan back, teme."

I didn't have time to say "you're welcome". Sakura's voice made mine die in my throat.

"Fine! Fuck it! Whatever! This _better _work out for the best!" We only head her because she had opened the door upstairs. With how hard she slammed it, I'm surprised it still worked.

"I wouldn't be doing it if the village wasn't benefitting from it!" Tsunade argued. Poor Samzara.

"RRRRRG! The village isn't the only thing benefitting! I _still_ can't believe you! How! Why!" They weren't questions. They were shouts and though the pain in her voice was concealed, Naruto and I could pick it out. We both winced while Karin mimicked Orochimaru and quietly sipped on her tea and Suigetsu dug something out of his ear with his pinky finger.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

She was coming down the stairs. Karin looked tense and Suigetsu had a shit-eating grin on his face, as if he was just _waiting_ for the right moment to say something. That "something" would get him killed at the rate Sakura was raging. But what did I expect? The man hadn't changed in four years. Not in appearance or personality. He had only acquired two claymores that looked like improvisations of Zabuza's legendary executioner's blade. Those were resting against the bookcase to the right. Other than that he was the same old Suigetsu. He didn't even really look like he aged much.

"That's not your decision to worry about! Get to work, _immediately_." Tsunade's voice was cold, harsh, but behind the coldness in her tone there was hurt and defensiveness. She was hurt by Sakura's accusing words. I didn't really care. I was relieved that sakura was back with us… that she was _here_ and around me, not somewhere out _there_ with wild people roaming around that could possibly hurt her. Sakura huffed in a "go fuck yourself" kind of way and responded with attitude. She was now walking towards _me_. Whatever she would throw at me, I was ready. I tensed.

"Right. It's not my business. You won't get "immediately" though. I have people to apologize to first. Unfortunately, the _innocent_ come first!" She walked over and placed Samzara around my neck gently and carefully in complete contrast to the anger that was radiating off of her and making the room feel heavy and uncomfortable, not that it was comfortable to begin-with. We were all in _Orochimaru's _house. I think the only one _not_ expecting something creepy to pop out of somewhere completely uncalled for was Naruto, but Naruto would be optimistic in a dungeon with corpses rotting next to his face. You couldn't really count him in this kind of situation.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeek! She opened the front door, stepped out…

…_SLAM! _

I think the foundation of the house shook a little.

"I've never seen her so…" Karin couldn't find the word to finish her sentence with.

"Batshit crazy!" Suigetsu finished with a laugh. "'Figures Sasuke would go for a crazy chick with a nice ass and wild hair she's totally your—

I silenced him with a shuriken that flew straight through his mouth. Naturally, his body turned into water upon impact, but it was enough to cut off the rest of his sentence.

"Perhaps you shouldn't agitate Sasuke-kun, Suigetsu. He's always testy when he comes back." Orochimaru advised and Naruto started to howl with laughter. I glared at him as he slapped his knee, causing Karin to lift her teacup out of the way of his quaking legs. He placed his hands at the back of his head in a relaxed pose, as if I _wouldn't_ kill him later for laughing.

"Man, you think _this_ is bad? You should've seen how pissy he was on house arrest at my apartment!" And more laughter. Karin snickered. Suigetsu seemed to try to imagine what Naruto was saying in his head and laughed too. Since when did Naruto and Suigetsu become friends? Nevermind. Naruto could make friends with anything ranging from a goldfish to a demonic overlord. I sighed again and pinched the bridge of my nose. Tonight was going to suck…

-X-

Sakura came back in the late evening, looking upset, but thankfully not angry. I had cooked dinner after a few hours of a shogi tournament between the five of us sans Sakura. Sakura had come downstairs from a room she picked for herself and took a few vials of Orochimaru's blood. The snake-man didn't seem too happy to have _his_ blood taken, and I resisted the urge to smirk. How the tables have turned… Anyway, after that, Sakura disappeared into the basement, where I'm assuming there was a lab, ready and waiting for her to use…

I'm not going to lie, Naruto and I were _both_ worried about her even as Suigetsu said stupid shit to piss off Karin, cracking a smile from Orochimaru, trying desperately to lighten the atmosphere in his own fucked up way. Naruto went along with the comedy, but only because he was a better actor than I was. I just cooked, ate, and put leftovers on a plate and a tray. The table of four that I left behind stared after me in surprised silence. I was surprised at myself too. I had never been anyone's delivery boy before. A part of me felt embarrassed; ashamed that I was throwing my old pride away to try to get a pissed off pink-haired kunoichi to eat… but at the same time I didn't care. We barely ate on our way back and I knew she probably felt awful. I was curious. And curiosity always got the best of me.

"I'm not cleaning." Was all I said. They understood that if they didn't clean, there would be trouble. I was still a captain and Naruto and Karin were my backups. That meant that they were my subordinates at this point. I didn't care that Naruto was to be the sixth hokage. I didn't care that Karin was a high councilwoman to the Uzumaki clan.

"Geez, teme. Don't get your silk boxers in a bunch." Naruto grumbled. I heard him mumble something about being terrible at cleaning under his breath. Karin murmured something back and Suigetsu started to snicker as I opened the basement door and shut it behind me. There was a long staircase and crème colored walls illuminated with circular ceiling lights that lead to a smooth, white-tiled landing and a ninety-degree angle. I didn't say anything as I reached the landing, turned and found a lab almost identical to the one in Konoha hospital that I followed Sakura to when Yugao was poisoned. There was one long table, since Sakura would be the only one working here, a door to the left, and vials, bunson burners, chemicals, scrolls and other lab equipment scattered around. She had gotten right to work, and looked…annoyed. Somehow she had changed into a pair of fitted black pants, boots, her trademark sleeveless Haruno tunic and a white labcoat.

She was ignoring me.

Pointedly.

I didn't like that. Enough is enough. I placed the tray next to her a little too hard. Her head snapped over to me from her notes. Out of all the enemies and people I have faced and killed, her green-eyed glare was the meanest I'd ever received at this point in my life. I glared back.

"What's your problem." I demanded, arms crossed. She looked at me. _Really _looked. I don't know what she saw, but she backed down. She sighed, the anger vanished from her eyes and her shoulders slumped. I resisted the urge to hold her. That wasn't my place. I had gotten used to touching her. That was bad. I knew I'd get somewhat addicted to the emotion that came with just holding onto her every night for just that one week. I felt stupid.

"I… don't know if I should talk about it. There's no point in complaining anymore. I'm here to do my job because it saves my friends in the end. That's it." She spoke robotically, as if that was what she was brainwashing herself with to just get through this mission. I exhaled, my anger leaving me too. I sat on a stool next to the one she was occupying. I didn't know what to really say. I couldn't offer advice and I couldn't offer encouragement. I'm not fucking Naruto. So I sat there for a moment, giving her time to sort through her thoughts. I suck at giving pep talks, but the one thing I _don't_ suck at is shutting up and listening.

"Eat." And talk. Talk to me. I wanted her to rant about things that didn't matter. The old Sakura did.

"I don't have the appetite, Sasuke. I'm sorry you brought the food down for nothing." I frowned, but I didn't push the subject. She went back to analyzing some paper with a bunch of colors and letters on it and writing some notes down. I smirked, reached over and grabbed the tray, setting it between me and her. I grabbed a piece of bread, ripped it in half and chewed it. It had been toasted so I made sure she heard the crunching inside my mouth from where she was sitting. She tried to ignore me. I didn't care. I tried to flake bread crumbs around _everywhere _ as best as I could. I was a kid once too; I knew how to be messy if I had to be. If she kept this "I'm not hungry" bullshit up I would top Naruto's nastiest mannerisms in the next ten minutes.

Crunch. Crunch… _crunch_!

I finally hit a nerve after a minute. She slammed her pen down. She took a breath to yell at me, but before she could, her stomach interrupted her.

_Groooowl_!

She blushed and placed her hands over to stomach, as if that would ever shut it up. I snorted and covered my mouth. I was actually going to shove the other half of bread into her mouth when she went to yell, but this works out fine, too.

"Ugh, give me the stupid bread and stop annoying me on _purpose_." She held out her hand and I placed the bread on her palm. She bought it to her mouth and crunched quietly. I finished my half and swallowed, dumping the crumbs I littered everywhere onto the floor. I could only look at a mess for so long so I got up and decided to look for a broom while she ate and read her colorful papers.

I walked into the door on the left side of the room. Through that door there was another room. It had a few machines in it that I knew nothing about. One of them had a lot of tubes that looked like turkey basters. Whatever. I eventually found the supply closet and got my hand on a broom and a dust pan. I returned to Sakura's side and quietly cleaned while she ate. I threw the crumbs into a trashcan on the other end of the table and returned the broom to its place. I sat back down next to her, peeking over her shoulder at the sheet with colors and letters on it. She studied the colorful sheet more, frowning.

"You know, he pisses me off. Every time I look at him, I see _them_." She quietly revealed, then practically slammed the paper down and turned to me on the stool, fire in her eyes. I didn't know what to say so I stayed quiet. She was Sakura. She would talk. It was how we worked together. She talked and I listened.

Knowing this was going to be a long conversation, I placed an elbow on the smooth, stainless steel tabletop and rested my chin on my knuckles. I grimaced as I felt the stubble coming in on my face. I would have to shave soon.

"I can't focus because I don't know fuuinjutsu. I'm worried I'll have to omit that from the re-write. I don't even know where to begin, but I have to work quickly and rewrite this correctly because if I don't he'll die, and then we'll have to start sending some people in the intel department out there." She bit her lip and clenched a fist. She was worried about her friends. I understood that. She was worried about not being able to write the seal into his DNA. I couldn't begin to even _want_ to understand how she would do that. She rubbed her forehead, dragging her palm across the diamond in the center. A thought struck me. What if she didn't _have_ to write it into the DNA?

"Is he going to be unconscious when you finally… change him?" I didn't exactly know how these things were supposed to go so I had to improvise a little. "Change him" was the only phrase I could come up with to describe what she would eventually accomplish with Orochimaru. She frowned at me, confused.

"Well yeah, otherwise he'll scream in pain, why? Should I leave him conscious and dope him up with adrenaline so he stays awake the entire time?" Her tone was sadistic by the end of her sentence. I raised a surprised eyebrow and she smirked, mischievously.

"I like the way you think." She complemented. I never insinuated torture. _She_ did. Before I could correct her she shook her head. "All jokes aside, yes. Why do you ask?" Serious again.

"Why not just make a separate seal and do to him what he did to me? While he's unconscious…" I suggested uncertainly. I didn't want her to turn into the man she hated the most. But what other choice did we have? He couldn't be trusted. Even if Tsunade trusted him. I wouldn't trust him as far as Karin could throw him. Pigs will fly before Karin becomes strong enough to throw people around like Sakura. That's saying a lot.

I was only complacent up to this point because he's weak and dying. I don't know how I would feel if she returned him to normal… back to square one before he genetically fucked himself and made himself effective but defective. Orochimaru was a powerful shinobi. That much was true. Granted, Naruto and I could take him in the time it would take for Choji to eat a bag of potato chips, but even so… We would be reviving a threat. Maybe Tsunade knew this? Maybe she didn't trust him either… Maybe that's why I was sent on this mission. I had personal experience with Orochimaru. I could actually help and worst case scenario I would be able to tell if he was planning something. Mistakes and sick romance or not, the hokage is a smart woman.

Sakura seemed to be mulling my suggestion over. She looked down and tapped the stool's rail that my feet were propped up on. I felt the vibrations in my legs. I watched her black sandal move back and forth, once between my feet, once not, once between, and once not. I took to counting the little metal clinks her shoes were making against the rail.

"I _guess_ I could do that… If you get me the scrolls you promised. Or if you can get Kabuto to talk without crying wolf." She suggested.

I frowned at that. Kabuto would be a sticky case. The man ran an orphanage just outside of Kumo with the guy who turned out to have come from the same orphanage he did. If I didn't believe in the power of Itachi-nii's Izanagi I wouldn't have trusted him around kids, either. In any case, Kabuto kept his hands out of the shinobi arts. He healed when he had to. That was it. He wanted nothing to do with anyone that wasn't hungry and homeless and in dire need of assistance or defenseless. That would mean he wanted nothing to do with old faces, like mine.

"I'll send snakes to find anything on the curse seal. When I have something I'll let you know." I finally settled for that. It wasn't much, but it was something.

She looked at me and nodded. Then continued eating. She handed me another colorful paper that I didn't notice.

"Hold this up, please?" I obeyed. She used the hand that didn't have chopsticks in it to hold up the other sheet of colorful paper next to the one I was pinching between my fingers, juxtaposing the two.

"What are you doing?" I was curious, as I always would be about her work.

"The paper you're holding is Orochimaru's original DNA pattern. The paper I'm holding up is the mess he's made of said DNA. The DNA that makes his body the way it is now." She explained intelligently, as if it were no big deal. What I wanted to know was how in hell did she even get Orochimaru's original DNA? I must've looked confused, or she was just good at reading me.

"He kept his original blood sample with him at all times. Just in case. He sent it to Tsunade-sama. She sent it to me. I analyzed the blood and there's his DNA." She explained flippantly, again, as if it was nothing. I shook my head and watched her eat as her green eyes darted back and forth between the two papers. My arm was getting tired. Hers was too. She took the paper from me and placed both papers on the tabletop. She sighed, finally done with her meal.

"It's going to take a while to do this." She grimaced at the objects scattered around the table.

He's _that_ fucked up, huh?

"He really, _really _messed with himself, but no matter how many times he screwed with his genetics, he could never turn his DNA into another separate strand. It's just impossible. There will always be bits of the original in the remake. You can't make an 'ideal' DNA strand. What in _hell_ was he thinking?" She glared at the papers in annoyance, seeing things I would never see.

"Start on it tomorrow. If he dies throughout the night we'll just find a way to use the sharingan for intel." I shrugged and she smiled, chuckling a little. I was glad I managed to make her crack some sort of a smile, even if it was with dry humor.

"I'll take up the tray." She offered and I let her. Sakura had to _do_ things to appease her tension. She wasn't one to sit back and analyze, like Shikamaru. She took off her labcoat, draped it across our abandoned stools and walked towards the landing. I followed her, letting her go first. I would be a liar if being a gentleman was the only motivation for doing so. She _does_ have an incredible ass, as Suigetsu mentioned. It was hard to just not appreciate.

Either way we reached the top of the stairs and she opened the door. The kitchen was silent, dark.

What the fuck?

She looked at me. I looked at her. She shrugged. I proceeded cautiously. I spotted a clock on the living room wall. It was simple and round. I couldn't see shit so I couldn't see the time. Were we really down there that long?

"I guess everyone's asleep." Sakura whispered.

"Aa…"

"What, tryin'a sneak back up after you guys fucked or somethin'?" Sakura jumped and the tray went flying in the direction of the "shadowed figure" we just barely noticed on the couch.

"Ow fuck!" Suigetsu cursed. I found the light-switch and flicked it on. Suigetsu cringed at the brightness, as did Sakura. I grimaced at the mess on the floor. Despite me practically blinding her with light (a secret revenge for what she did to me with her flashtags), Sakura looked like she was tensed for a fight and Suigetsu had the tray lodged through his hips and within the plush cushion of the couch. I gave him my best "you asked for it" expression when he eyed me.

"Jeez, Pink, you would think this kinda stuff would turn off a guy." Suigetsu moved his hands around the tray stuck through his gut. "I don't know if Sasuke's lucky he's not made of water or not; kami-sama."

Sakura turned _red_ and huffed. She placed a hand on her hip.

"You think you're funny, huh?" Her voice was challenging. I liked it. It was about time someone properly handed Suigetsu's ass to him. Suigetsu raised a white brow in response to her tightly controlled voice. He stood up, phasing through the tray as if it were nothing. "You obviously do." She answered for him. This was going to be great.

"Hey, now listen—

"No. _You_ can clean this up, since it's your fault. And as for my sexual life; it's none of your fucking business. Don't talk shit about things you've never experienced."

I felt Suigetsu's ego crumple from here.

Speaking of which, Suigetsu's mouth hung open. No one had ever _calmly _told him off. I smirked at him as Sakura turned on her heel and grabbed my shirt to drag me upstairs. I wasn't going to stay back and help him anyway, but it was nice of her to think that if she didn't drag me away, I would.

"I have no authority over you, but Naruto won't like cleaning up twice and I don't think you'll like sleeping in a mess." I smoothly called over my shoulder as I followed Sakura up the stairs.

"Fuck you, Sasuke you're _still_ no fun." I was on the second floor just as he was finishing his statement.

Fuck you too, Suigetsu. You deserved that one.

"What an asshole." Sakura growled.

"I can still hear you, Pink!" He called from downstairs.

Sakura made an aggravated sound, and with clenched fists she spun around, but I grabbed her shoulders before she could slam into me or shove me aside. Ignoring me and my successful attempt to stop her from storming down the stairs for the second time today, she shouted over my shoulder.

"YOU'RE AN _ASSHOLE_! Don't think I'm afraid to say it to your stupid face! I sw—knfewkfewkfk!"

She tried to grunt my name through the palm I placed over her mouth, her aggravation now turned to me. It didn't work, I successfully muffled her. But now there was an evil gleam in her green eyes. She _licked _my palm. Shivers ran up my spine out of disgust. I dropped my hand as if she had poured an STD on it and glared at her. Sakura knew how to push my buttons. First with the chocolate on my doorknob, now this. I rubbed my hand against my pants... vigorously. She smirked at me triumphantly and walked into the first wooden door to the right of the hallway, which also had crème colored walls. The floor here had chocolate brown carpeting.

"YOU'RE HOT WHEN YOU'RE PISSED, PINK! I'M NOT AFRAID TO SAY IT EITHER! BY THE WAY NICE FUCKIN' ASS!"

I rolled my eyes. He knew how to be vulgar. Sakura suppressed a chuckle. She smirked instead.

"Goodnight, Sasuke." She whispered before she shut the door behind her.

"Goodnight." I responded with a nod.

I walked down the hall and found a door without light shining beneath it. The room was right next to Sakura's. I smirked. No doubt that was Naruto's doing. Smart dobe. As soon as I shut the door behind me I flicked on the light-switch. The room was simple. Brown carpeting, a twin-sized bed, and a nightstand on the right-side wall. A window on the wall across from the door, and a closet to my left. I sat on the bed and summoned four snakes. I wondered if the reverse-summoning seals were still intact in the ruins of some of the bases. Seiza, Senna, Rizzi, and Kah all greeted me simultaneously. Each were about three feet in length and as wide as Sakura's forearm.

"SSSSSSSSasssssssssuke-ssssssama. A pleasssssure."

"I'm going to transport you four to what's left of Orochimaru's bases. I want you guys to find anything and everything you can on fuuinjutsu and curse-sealing. If you find secret doors you don't remember being there before, go in them. This is your top priority. You will all be rewarded for your efforts but the one who finds something of relevance will dine on enough crickets and mice to last a lifetime."

"Undersssssstood, Sssssassssuke-sssssama." Rizzi, the darkest colored snake responded.

"Arigato, Ssssssasssssuke-ssssama." Senna and apparently her companion Seiza bowed in the weird way that only snakes could bow. The last one, seemingly the eldest of the four, Kah, remained quiet. I transported them each to different bases, praying that they all made it. They knew how to reverse-summon back to me so I'd get my intel in a few days at most. I pulled out Sakura's annoying color-scroll that she had given to me a while back. While she works, I might as well try to learn to control my chakra better.

It's going to be a long month…

-X-

:D Yaaaaay!

Okay I'm just going to cut to the chase.

**SPOILER DON'T READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE MANGA KTHNX! **

What. The. Fuck. Okay. I _liked_ the ending. I _liked_ that Sasusaku stayed afloat! They survived! MY FIRST SHIP TO BECOME CANNON! YAAAAAY! But okay, let's get a few things fucking straight.

Kishimoto, ever my worst enemy, ruined my next fic after this one. I was going to do a nextgen fic and he fucking ruined it by doing his nextgen first! And I was a little creeped out to find that _yes_ we do think alike. A lot of the shit I was thinking of putting in my fic he put in the manga! My fucking god!

You readers were right when you said Kishi and I are similar… *creepy sound effect music*

Anyway. Who the FUCK named their daughter after SALAD! WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!

And BOLT!? After your sexy-ass father's name was Minato! You fucking named your kid, _Bolt_!? It rhymes with DOLT! WTF!

Ugh… Choji and Karui came out of nowhere. Out of fucking nowhere. How that happened I don't fucking know. Kiba looks beast as fuck. I was pissed that after Naruto gave Kakashi back his fucking original eye he couldn't somehow bring Neji back. I wanted Neji back. *sniffle* I still miss Neji! Gai in a wheelchair… *teary-eyed face*. That broke my heart but let's be real here, after that shit in the war, I would've been surprised if he could walk after that.

INO AND SAI'S KIDS WERE FUCKING AWESOME! Out of all the character designs I liked theirs the best!

Shikamaru's kid is so awesome lol and whaaaaaaat Gaara with that classy hair! I was so happy that Kurotsuchi became the new Tsuchikage. Her haircut is EPIC. Naruto and that kage-ness… damn. I could die happy. I'm so happy he achieved his dream. SASUKE WENT BACK TO BEING NORMAL AT THE END!

OMFG AND KAKASHI AS ROKUDAIME! It makes perfect sense but I never thought he would accept the position! Tsunade lookin' sexy even after all these years. I wanted to know what happened to Karin Juugo and Suigetsu!? I loved them.

And that NejiTen that was hinted… omg TenTen was by herself in her weapons shop. By herself. She stayed single, guys… It pulls at my heartstrings. All in all, Naruto had a good run. This is a story that is special to my heart, that has been with me through the darkest of times and ultimately it's a story I'll never forget. Kishimoto did some ass-pulls that I didn't like and definitely screwed with some otherwise-epic characters but in the end it was all about that Sasuke and Naruto friendship/brotherhood stuff so it's all cool. Damn bro… Surprisingly, I don't feel as empty now that it's over. I'm happy because the ending was _great_.

I have one big question though…

What was that city-scape looming over Konoha in the final panels? Naruto was using a laptop, so I'm assuming that technology/our-universe is invading the Narutoverse somehow? Was Kishimoto trying to say that even at the end of it all, Naruto is only a step away from our daily lives? Interesting to think about…

I can't wait 'till the movie comes out and until the post-Naruto mini-series of manga comes out.

Hit me up with what you guys thought about the ending.

**SPOILER OVER! YAAAAY YOU GUYS CAN KEEP READING NOW BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH HEARTS **

Okay so yeah, this was the first part of the Sasuke arc, I explained in the note above why I'm doing it. I feel that us readers can connect a little bit better with Sasuke and considering that Sakura is going to be stuck in the lab for a while, I figured it would be interesting to do some Sasuke before we get to Sakura again. This is not forever. I'm only thinking there will be a part two of the Sasuke arc _maybe_ a part three, but still. I'm going for it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this! Thanks again for the reviews in the last chapter!

See 'ya later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't fucking own Naruto. Otherwise chapter 700 would have been _vastly _different.


	29. SASUKE ARC PART II

KISEKI

|29|

OMG readers! I'm so happy to announce that I have gotten my first flame! It's for the very first chapter and you can see it on the reviews section for KISEKI. LOL I know I shouldn't be proud of myself, but I am. Every good story gets some love and some hate XD Thank you guys so much for your reviews! I'm so glad you all liked that the drama died down and the bit of comedy that I added in! Now without further ado, I'll present you with this chapter!

Enjoy!

-X-

By dawn, Sakura was in the lab, working. After knocking on her door and not getting an answer I decided not to disturb her. Instead, I waltzed into Naruto's room and kicked the shit out of my snoring brother to wake him up. I had business with him.

I nudged Naruto's leg with my foot and he grumbled something about Hinata. The second time I aimed for his shoulder. He rolled over. The third time, I lost patience, flared my chakra and shoved my foot into the back of his head and applied pressure.

"AAAAH! WHAT THE HELL!" Somehow he ended up at the end of the bed, on the floor, in a fighting stance in his boxers. His dick was hanging out of the front. I looked away and covered my eyes with my hands.

"Put some fucking clothes on will you?" I drawled. "And what kind of hokage sleeps through an assault?"

"I knew it was _you_!" He retorted, offended that I would think lowly of him.

He paused for some reason.

"Fucking hentai-teme! You saw my penis!"

No shit. We had fucking bathed together on missions before. It's not like I stared anyway. I ignored his insult and heard him shuffling around the room.

"We need to talk, Naruto." I spoke and dropped my hand now that I was turned away.

"About what?" He replied tiredly. I heard him pop some bones. He must've been stretching.

"I'll tell you later."

He paused. I assumed he had his pants on by now. I turned to see him buttoning the top of his standard black pants in front of the small closet in his temporary room. He blinked at me, got serious once he realized we couldn't talk here, and nodded. I leaned against the wall and stared out his window at the grey sky until he finally tied his headband around his head.

"All right, teme. I guess we can go to Rena-chan's town and get some breakfast or something."

I grimaced. Hearing Rena's name reminded me… _That_ scenario was disgustingly awkward. Don't get me wrong, I was happy for her. She escaped. She got out of her situation without my help, obviously, and met someone who whole-heartedly loved her despite her past. But meeting her husband… and knowing that he _knew_… I'm surprised we didn't end up brawling. I guess with adulthood comes the understanding that we all used to be young… and stupid.

"Sure." With that we donned our black cloaks and stepped into the misty, grey weather outside. It was early enough that Karin and Suigetsu— 'lazy asses that they are— were still asleep. We took our time running towards the mountain village we initially found Sakura in. It was a bit of a trip but I enjoyed looking at the surrounding nature. The flora here was different than around Konoha. I counted about ten species of mountain flowers I had no idea existed previously. We even saw a few different-looking deer and mountain goats…

The fucking mountain goats… We got a little too close to one and if Naruto was any less connected to nature he would've gotten the shit head-butted out of him. I told him it was the orange in his clothes that attracted the unwanted attention. He retorted something about my hair. A few miles away from the small town, we slowed to a walk. I wiped cold droplets of mist from my face and gathered my thoughts.

"So… what's up teme?" Naruto asked. He was a little hesitant and I knew it was because he didn't like dealing with heavy topics.

"Do you trust Orochimaru running around, free and healthy?" I asked. Naruto sighed in annoyance. He ran his hand through his hair. His was getting long, too. We were both going to need haircuts soon. I could probably pull off the length, but Naruto would look like an animal if he didn't take care of himself soon.

"I can't make up my mind about him. This is worse than when Sakura-chan confused me." He revealed pitifully. I nodded and waited for him to get into detail. "It's like, I _know_ he's not going to do anything wrong. I can't sense any evil from him." He scrunched his face. "He seems tired. Like he's over being alone." Naruto shook his head. "But anyway, I keep remembering how he screwed us during our chunnin exams. Look at everything that happened-ttebayo." He seemed frustrated and confused.

I nodded in understanding. His instincts were telling him one thing, but for once he was listening to his brain and logic was telling him something else…

"Sakura and I… have a plan." Now that I knew he wasn't blind and had enough sense to think clearly on the subject, I would be able to tell him. It's not that I didn't trust him, but Naruto used to have the tendency to be overly-optimistic. I didn't want to hear anything like "How could you even _think_ that-ttebayo! Or something along those lines.

"Eh?" He replied, looking interested. He grinned. "You and Sakura-chan _always_ have a plan." He said it like I hadn't disappeared for four years at one point. I rolled my eyes. Naruto would always be Naruto.

"I have my snakes looking for everything and anything pertaining to the curse-seal." I waited for the puzzle pieces to fall into place in his mind. This is how we worked. I gave Naruto a general overview and Naruto would guess at my intentions. He was usually right, so all I had to do was wait.

He looked confused at first, but then a light clicked on in his head. It was amazing how Naruto wore his thoughts on his face. How did he _ever_ manage to trick opponents in battle? He grinned and took a shot at what we were thinking.

"You mean you're going to help Sakura-chan curse-seal hebi-teme!? That's _awesome_!"

I smirked. At least he was all for it. He punched the air excitedly and I could practically feel him vibrate with mischief. Naruto liked tricks and pranks and anything related to getting an upper hand on the opponent.

"Did your master ever teach you anything about fuuinjutsu?" Itachi-nii-sama knew a lot about fuuinjutsu. If only I hadn't been so _stupid_… I quashed the lingering sorrow and focused on the present. Naruto visibly deflated.

"Not really… I never really got it beyond the basics, anyway… My dad was really good at it… but… well, you know…" He averted his eyes to the damp grass beneath both our feet.

Now we were both depressed. We walked on in silence until we reached a small restaurant in the village. "Restaurant" was a bit of an overestimation, though. It was a wooden building, a lot like the tavern I found Sakura in. Wooden tables were everywhere in the main room inside and the interior was decorated with fresh mountain flowers of varying colors around the glass windows. We entered and sat down. There were a few early-risers amongst us, quietly chewing food that admittedly smelled delicious. Most of them were dressed in weird close-toed boots, cloaks, and some furs here and there. Regardless, the place was slow enough for us to have a private conversation.

Soon enough, a woman in a dress came up to our table. She wore a long dress, reminiscent of my mother's and had her dark-brown waves pinned back in a loose braid. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled back at Naruto who had greeted her as cheerfully as he greeted anyone he didn't personally know.

"Do you gentlemen have anything in mind for breakfast?" She asked politely.

Hell, I didn't even know what this place served.

"Um, sorry miss, but we're not from here…" Naruto began a little nervously. He could tell the woman was checking him out. I could see him denying the suspicions in his mind, but he wasn't wrong. She kept looking at him periodically from the corner of her eyes. I smirked, and decided to watch him internalize his freak-out.

"Nonsense, we can make anything for you. This isn't the sort of place that has a fixed menu."

When did she inch so close to him? Hah. She was trying out her "sensual voice". Naruto looked like he was ready to bolt.

"Uhhhh…eh-heh..heh … … …Sasuke?"

He sent me a pained smile, leaning away from the woman. I shrugged and kept quiet. The betrayed look in his blue eyes promised vengeance at a later time. Somehow he managed to make me feel like I kicked a puppy.

"Wow, your hair is _so_ light, can I feel it?" She pulled the I-have-ADD-let-me-talk-about-something-random-to-flirt-with-you trick.

"Uh…?"

Before he could tell her to _fuck off_ the woman had her hand in his hair.

"It's _so_ soft!" She cooed. Naruto was leaning his face away from her chest as she leaned closer to touch his head. At that point I felt like a sadist so I cut in to ruin the situation for her. Enough was enough. Besides, _I _was starting to get grossed out.

"Does this establishment make miso and rice?" I asked, authoritatively in my best impression of Madara. She instantly shrunk away from Naruto, like a child caught drawing on the wall with her favorite crayon. Naruto stopped sweating and looked relieved.

"Of course. That's quite a foreign specialty, but we make it here, nonetheless." She smiled at me. I guess she wasn't into dark hair. Thank kami-sama. It was nice not to have someone faun over me for once.

"Whatever your common breakfast here is, we'll have it." I replied coldly. If miso and rice was foreign here then there was no doubt in my mind that it would be expensive. Last thing I needed was to burn through the money Tsunade allotted us on this mission. I doubt Naruto came here with financial reinforcements from Konoha and I sure as hell wasn't about to spend my fortune on a mission that involved _helping_ Orochimaru. Fuck that. The woman beamed in response, as if she was ecstatic that we wanted to try to house specials.

"Of _course_! If that's okay with your handsome friend, of course." She turned to Naruto who nodded so quickly I thought his neck would snap. He did _not_ want any more attention on himself, which was funny because when we were younger he would have basked in it. Things have really changed…

"Very well then! I'll return shortly! Would you two like tea in the meantime?" She asked sweetly, her dark eyes sliding over to Naruto. He looked at me intensely enough for me to bestow more mercy on him.

"Jasmine, if you have it." I commanded.

"Um… yeah, Jasmine's cool with me too…'ttebayo…" Naruto responded nervously. Never in my life have I heard the dobe speak so quietly. It was funny to see. I resisted the urge to smirk. I was playing the part of the asshole friend, after all.

"Wonderful!" The woman giggled. "You have an interesting form of speech! Can I ask where you're from?"

Either she was curious, or planning to stalk Naruto… Either way it was another attempt to flirt and honestly we didn't have time for this shit.

"Far away." I replied. She deflated, noticing that I had closed off the topic. I prayed they wouldn't spit in or poison my food.

"Well then, I'll be back soon." She curtsied, which was odd to the both of us since we were used to servers bowing, or Chiho just running back and forth, but thankfully she left. Naruto slammed his forehead on the table as soon as she disappeared through a door I was assuming led to the kitchen. The metal of his hitai-ate clinked against the wood.

"Damn, teme, how do you deal with it?" He mumbled miserably. I smirked.

"Now you know what it's like. Still jealous?" He had admitted that he was jealous of the attention I used to get at one point. It wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

His head shot up off the table and he glared at me as if I'd offended him.

"_Hell no_. She wasn't even as pretty as Hinata-chan." He pouted and took care to whisper, so he wouldn't offend anyone. He was definitely more considerate than when we were kids or teenagers. I snickered.

"It's Sakura-chan's birthday in a couple of weeks, teme. Did you forget?" He changed the subject to get off of this painful topic; a trick Tsunade had taught him. He was getting better at politics and professional conversations.

"No." That was the next thing I was going to talk to him about anyway. What would we do for her? Naruto grinned, happy that I didn't forget her birthday like your average asshole teammate would.

"Do you know what to get her?" He asked.

Actually no, I was shit out of ideas. I didn't know her _that_ well. I shook my head.

"I'll figure something out." I replied but even I didn't sound convincing to myself.

"I was thinking of getting Ino, Sai and Kaka-sensei to come here to celebrate!" Naruto grinned. "But, like in a surprising kind of way. Sakura-chan can't know." He gave me a pointed look and I glared at him. I wasn't one to give away secrets!

"Won't bringing all of them here be problem if Orochimaru is here? They'll find out what's going on." I pointed out. Was Naruto _stupid_? We were on a classified need-to-know basis mission.

Naruto shrugged.

"Everyone is going to know soon anyway. Sai-baka won't care, Ino is too busy paying attention to him to care, and Kaka-sensei probably already knows." Naruto shrugged. "It's not like it's a big deal or anything." Naruto's eyes widened with a new idea and he grinned. "Maybe we can have Juugo come by too! He likes Sakura-chan. She's his favorite medic!"

I frowned. Wasn't Juugo in some holding hospital ward? Either I looked confused or Naruto sensed it because he decided to fill me in.

"Sakura-chan was working on fixing his… well you know, his problem. He's on medication and it's been working, I think. She was working on fixing the problem 'at its root' or something." Naruto made air quotes and mimicked Sakura's voice, then shrugged.

"We can run it by Tsunade today." I replied. It would probably help Sakura to have Ino around anyway. Naruto grinned.

"I was planning on getting her metal tessen to decorate her apartment, since she'll be in Konoha longer as soon as I become hokage!" Naruto's smile was mischievous and ear-to-ear and I couldn't help but smirk back. No more extensive medical missions for Sakura. We were going to keep her home. War-fans were a good idea too. Sakura was beautiful _and_ strong. A set of razor-sharp, finely-decorated fans that could double as weapons fit her description perfectly.

"What does she like?" I asked. Naruto knew better than I did. He had always been the better man, but it was my turn to try. It wouldn't hurt to gather information from a good source. Worst case scenario I'd pay another visit to Norami, and maybe I'd buy the guy a nice bottle of sake to make up for his time that I tended to waste. My blond brother grinned.

"'Nice to see you finally get off your lazy ass and try, teme." He gave me a sly smirk and I shut him up with a glare.

"Talk, Naruto." I ordered, but I felt my cheeks get hot. It was embarrassing to be lectured by him, in a sense, but it was necessary. I wanted Sakura to be mine. I wanted her to love me again. I wanted to return the feelings she once had for me.

He didn't get a chance to answer me because his stalker came back with our tea. She placed a wooden tray with two decorated porcelain tea cups on it in the center of our small, rectangular table. In between the tea cups she placed a tea pot that didn't match the cups. It was black iron with a wooden handle.

Naruto grinned. He must be pretty hungry to have forgotten how nervous he was before.

"Thanks, miss!" He grinned and replied.

"Anything for you, handsome." She winked and I thought I was going to have to swallow vomit. Naruto paled. It would be best if he kept his mouth shut, despite how opposite it was of his personality to be cold and impersonal. "Breakfast will be out shortly!" And with that she sashayed away, probably hoping that Naruto was looking at her ass, which he wasn't. He looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown. Maybe he didn't know how to deal with female attention because for most of his life he'd been ostracized and rejected. I frowned, kind of pissed at the village that they'd do that to him, but I remembered that there were always people willing to back him. Before Iruka, the sandaime was there for him in a kinda-sorta way. It made me feel better to know that he was now with the person that had loved him since we were kids. At least Hinata was making up for all the times he'd been hurt in the past. I would have to get them an extravagant wedding gift at some point.

"Sakura-chan…" He frowned, as if he was trying to describe the way he saw "blue" to someone colorblind. "She doesn't like girly things. Like _really _girly things…"Now he grinned, remembering happier memories. "She likes electric games and books. I think she likes to read mysteries and fantasies."

"I'm not getting her a book she might not like." I flat-out responded. There was no way I'd get her a book without knowing which specific one she wanted. Depending on how she interpreted the book she could possibly get a mixed message from me that way. For example, what if it was a best-seller, but somehow it had porn or sex scenes in it? That would be too personal. I smirked. She _did_ reveal that she's a pervert; however, that's a topic for another time. Naruto sighed.

"You _could_ just get her a nice new kunai set…" Naruto grumped but even he didn't seem to like his own idea. A kunai set was so… generic. It lacked personality.

"What's Sai getting her?"

At this point Sai knew her better than I did. Naruto's face scrunched.

"I don't know. He'll get her something. He always manages to pick out something weird but something likable. Like last time, he got her an all-day pass for a spa. That's pretty personal but at that point she just got back from a mission and she was so tired that she ended up loving it… after she decked him—ttebayo!" Naruto grinned, his whisker-marks grinning along with him.

"I thought you said she didn't like girly things…"

A spa pass was pretty girly if you asked me. Naruto looked confused as he held his chin in his hands and looked at something on the floor.

"You know… you're right, teme. Sai-baka always gets her girly things… but they're never too girly."

I wanted to smack my forehead but I resisted the urge to do so. Naruto paled.

"Whatever you do, _don't _get her anything pink!" He looked horrified and I imagined it was because he had tried that at one point… and gotten a well-deserved punishment for it. I snorted. I'm not _that_ stupid.

"I'll figure something out. The seal is more important to talk about." He nodded as I waved the subject off.

"So that was what you and Sakura-chan had planned? To curse-seal Orochimaru like he sealed you?"

"I don't know how we'll go about it. I don't know if we'll be able to replicate it or test it in time. She still has to learn advanced fuuinjutsu _while_ reorganizing the mess his DNA is."

Naruto looked suspicious.

"Since when do you know about DNA?"

I glared at him. "I don't. She does. That's what she told me."

"Oh. Well, shit. Should I go back to Konoha and see if I can—

"_No_. Tsunade isn't going to know about this and neither is Orochimaru. You, Sakura and I are covering our asses." I explained. Naruto frowned.

"But the Uzumaki compound is _all_ about seals…"

There wasn't an "Uzumaki compound" when his dad was alive, so how did he learn?

"How did you dad learn?"

Naruto crossed one of his arms and rested his chin in his other hand. A light clicked on and he brightened as a result. Our food came, interrupting him once again.

"Here's your food!" Two wooden plates were placed in front of us along with utensils we didn't normally eat with. There were chopsticks next to them just in-case. I could tell by the smell that it was some sort of pork with I think…eggs? But they were all mushed. Something was oozing over the meat…

…

…

…

What have I _done_?

"It may look strange to you, but believe me it's delicious." The waitress reassured us, sent one last smile to Naruto and spun around, leaving. Her attitude had changed towards us… Maybe she thought we were gay. I didn't care; it was better than her harassing Naruto. There just wasn't any time for that.

"I was going to say that baa-chan told me he learned from the Uzushiogakure ruins. Maybe I can sneak away and go there. It's not like baa-chan will know. Maybe Karin-nee will want to help us and she can come with me." He grinned.

That was actually… a really good idea. I just stared at him. I take a few missions away after my probation is up and his mental age suddenly increases. Naruto was one that never ceased to amaze. I shook my head to clear that thought away. He was right. The one person Karin probably hated more than me was Orochimaru. She had seen Ino, as far as I knew from Naruto and she knew how fucked up her situation was… how she had been manipulated. At least I was crazy when I almost killed her. I had an excuse. Orochimaru was sane and brainwashed her into loyalty to him while he ran experiments on her on the side.

"Good idea." I smirked. "When do you want to leave?"

"After breakfast. I'll leave a frog scroll with you so we can communicate. I'll let you know how stuff goes while it's going."

I nodded and we started to eat. I would've never admitted it years ago, but eating with Naruto was relaxing. I used to have to look past his bad manners but dating Hinata had helped him, _a lot_. Maybe all the times he ate with me helped him too. Either way I felt like I had family when we ate together. It was different, obviously, than the kind of family I felt I had when I ate with Sakura and when I ate with Kakashi, or Shikamaru. But it was nice. I had a brother in Naruto. A brother that my _actual_ brother trusted when he was alive. I could relax around him. I didn't have to worry about what came out of my mouth. Naruto was the one person that would just _understand_ without questioning.

Ino would understand, but Ino always _questioned_. Shikamaru was… a lazy thinker. If it was ever just us, we were quiet. It might surprise you, but I had taken the time after a sparring session to just watch clouds. Choji had joined us and that's when we actually had a conversation. It always led to barbeque and dinner afterwards. Kakashi would get sappy or cryptic and I'd always feel bad because I felt that I reminded him too much of Obito. Regardless, I felt almost pressured to be the best somewhat-son I could be around him. I couldn't help but regard him the same way I regarded my father. He got the same respect out of me as my actual father did, except he always ended up reminding me that he was lackadaisical and tended not to care. Sai was a new one. I hadn't hung around him on my own long enough to really know him. But from our spar that one time, I imagine we'd get psychological.

Either way Naruto was Naruto and I was myself around Naruto. I was glad we took the time to come here and surprised to find that when I but into the glazed pork roll it tasted sweet _and_ salty. An interesting but definitely not bad combination. The eggs were fluffy and well-prepared as well. It wasn't a breakfast I was used to but it definitely wouldn't upset my stomach. We _both_ started to pick up our pace when we realized how hungry we were. As shinobi we were used to moving without food to move on. Sometimes a mission just didn't give you time to eat, but damn, a good meal was a good meal. There was no arguing that. When we finished I paid and we left. I made sure to stand closer to Naruto so the waitress wouldn't get any ideas. I was happy with pretending to be gay for just another minute, if only to spare Naruto the, hey-don't-leave-me-yet-I-want-to-get-to-know-you-later tactic. We left in peace and Naruto grinned as soon as we stepped out.

"She thinks we're gay by the way. You sounded really defensive when you talked to her." Naruto grinned. Of course he would know how the waitress felt.

"I figured."

"Ne, let's go see Rena-chan. She said that we should all hang out sometime! She wanted to apologize for making you have to save her and Aoi last time."

I really didn't want to go. Naruto knew I didn't want to go but he didn't know why.

"What?" He asked in a suspicious way. I rolled my eyes.

"We slept together once." I revealed. There was no use in hiding it from him anyway. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. I've never seen wider blue eyes than his.

"What!? While you were looking for Saku—

"_No_, dobe, a long time ago."

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"When?"

"Fifteen."

His jaw dropped.

"Eeeeeeeh? We were out training our asses off and you hentai-baka were screwing some girl with _blue hair_!?" Then he outright glared at me. "Is that why you like Sakura-chan!? Because her hair is different too! Konan-chan would have cut you… a lot." He condemned me in the only way a best friend could. I glared back at him.

"I fucked _her_ because...—

I flushed.

"Becaaaause?" Naruto waved his hand around, as if wanting to pull the words out of me.

"Because I _like _different hair. I liked Sakura's hair before. I think I liked her hair because it reminded me of Sakura."

Naruto smirked, borderline evilly, like a mob boss satisfied with information no one else knew. Which was the case, aside from the mob boss part. I hadn't told _anyone_ that. I trusted him to keep his mouth shut.

"So you _did_ like Sakura-chan back, teme!"

No no no.

"No. It was never like _that_. Not back then. It wasn't like _that_ till just recently."

Naruto blinked but nodded.

"It was back there," He pointed to his head. "but you didn't realize it 'till later."

I nodded back. I was focused on other things back then. On revenge. Which was _dumb_. The air smelled like rain and I took it in, and shut my eyes. It was nice.

"I'll go see her and be back for Karin-nee later. I'll meet you at the house."

I nodded and Naruto stuck his fist out with a grin. I smirked back, touched my knuckles to his and we both disappeared without a trace.

The run back to the house was smooth and liberating. The light mist felt cool on my face in contrast to the hot blood that was pumping through my body, warming me up. The breakfast we ate was high in calories and gave me a boost of energy that increased my stamina. At some point, the hood of my cloak slipped off. I didn't care about it anymore. The rainwater collected on my scalp as I ran through a light fog that descended over the grass-and-rock valleys. My chakra was _begging _to be used. I heeded its call and summoned lightning to my right hand. Manipulating it felt great. I stopped and tore through a huge rock with it, feeling satisfied as the grey stone split into pieces. Sakura wasn't the only one that could destroy things with her fists. The thought of her sent me racing back to the house. I made it there in record time. Orochimaru was sitting on his ugly violet chair again, reading a book.

_Love and Loss _was the title. I didn't know what the point was of him reading a book about love and loss. Karin was washing dishes at the sink and Suigetsu looked like he wanted to break the plate he was drying with his eyes alone. He either lost a bet or Karin somehow bullied him into drying dishes. I felt Sakura's chakra downstairs. She must have felt mine. Hers flickered a little. I shifted mine around as well as I shut the door behind me and removed my shoes.

"Yo, Sasuke." Suigetsu greeted in a drab tone.

"Stop bitching." Karin hissed next to him. "Hi Sasuke."

"Yo." I replied. I hung my cloak on a coatrack I hadn't noticed before next to the bookcase where Suigetsu's claymores were still resting. I trudged over to the couch and sat down, resting my head against the back of it.

"Had a nice run, Sasuke-kun?" His sandpaper-tone would never cease to grate on my nerves. He sounded like he'd been chain-smoking for a century straight.

"Aa." Because what else do you reply to that? I could run. He couldn't. Victory was mine.

"This novel is compelling. You should read it when you get the chance."

"Hn."

"As talkative as usual." He murmured with a chuckle, then a violent, disgustingly wet cough.

"We never saw eye-to-eye. I won't take your suggestions."

I wasn't going to fall for his "I've changed" bullshit. I wasn't easily forgiven or believed for my "I've changed" story either, but at least mine was solidly true and proven by a credible witness, who just so happened to be a hero of the village. Orochimaru didn't have shit and personal feelings didn't mean shit when it came to character so Tsunade's opinion of him was about as valid as a pile of manure stewing in the summer sun. Sakura had loved me blindly despite the horrible shit I'd done to her. If I could go back and see myself the way I was years ago from a different point of view I wouldn't have trusted myself yet Sakura trusted me with a kunai pointed at her throat and wrongfully so. Tsunade might not be any better than that at this point but at least she had logic to back her up. Orochimaru was useful for his decoding of scriptures and languages. He would prevent deaths. That's all I could trust at this point.

"Eye-to-eye…" He murmured under his breath. "I may surprise you yet, Sasuke-kun."

He turned a page in his book, his ever-present cane sitting against the arm of his chair. For some reason that cane was pissing me off. It wasn't anything special and there wasn't any instinct involved. I just didn't want to be reminded that time was short in a shinobi's life. You never knew what would cripple you and what would kill you when. The fireplace was blazing, even though it was still early morning. It felt too hot to be inside. My attention wandered towards Sakura. Had she eaten at all? Suigetsu and Karin finished their mini-fight/dish-washing session and joined me on the couch, Suigetsu uncomfortably next to me, Karin squished towards the edge of the couch, next to him. The water-man wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I sighed. I knew where this was going.

"So… is she a good lay?"

"I don't know. I won't stop you from finding out." I _wanted_ him to try to pull something on Sakura. She'd find a way to molecularly disassemble him. Suigetsu laughed nervously.

"You know, I'll just wait for the stories to trickle in when we drink sometime." He replied and his arm slid off of me.

"You're planning on staying." It wasn't a question.

"Jeez, you're more social than ever. Yeah. I haven't seen old taka in years! All we need is Juugo and we'd be set!"

I smirked. If only he knew Naruto's plan. A thought struck me. Team taka and Team seven would finally be in the same room together on good terms for once… if we pulled this surprise party off for Sakura. My eyes meandered over to the basement door again.

"Let's go spar outside." Suigetsu was getting bored.

"Spar with Karin." I didn't feel like sparring with him after running all morning. I wanted to relax.

"Ew, you'd rather spend time with Orochimaru?" He seemed offended. Even Orochimaru chuckled at his own expense. I snorted.

"At least he doesn't rib me about my sex life."

Karin laughed about that one. Suigetsu growled.

"Pfft. Whatever, Sasuke. You're pissed 'cause pink doesn't want your crusty Uchiha ass either. Come on Karin." The redhead didn't have time to protest as Suigetsu grabbed her arm, yanked her off of the couch, and pulled her along.

"Suigetsu- _teme_! Don't _drag_ me!"

I heard her yelling all the way to the back door near the kitchen and out of it. The door shut and I shut my eyes.

"If you want to read there are plenty of books on the shelf." Orochimaru pointed out the obvious. Maybe his weakness was making him delirious. He _never_ spoke without having a point to get to. That being said…

"Get to your point." I didn't feel like making small talk with the man that traumatized my childhood friends. Naruto was making a show of being relaxed earlier, but I could still pick up the subtle alertness in his eyes. He was _still_ instinctually wary of Orochimaru. As was Sakura. He had traumatized them… my _family_. And I wasn't in a forgiving mood. I was here to get this mission done because I'd rather not have Nara out there facing an opponent he didn't know. I'd rather have Ino and Choji in the village, where they can help people. I didn't want them to waste their lives out there.

"Do you know how she did it?" He asked and cleared his throat afterwards.

"Did what?" I practically grounded out. He was talking about Sakura. It was hard for me not to get defensive.

"How did she discover how to rewrite DNA. Tsuna told me she discovered a way to regrow limbs, too."

I smirked. Sakura was amazing in her field, that's how. But I wasn't going to tell him.

"You should probably ask her yourself." I replied condescendingly. I could see the light from the fire flickering behind my closed lids.

"Asking her would be…unfavorable." He sounded almost afraid. Almost. Not quite.

"It would be entertaining to see you try… I wonder if one hit from her would kill you in your state." I rubbed his position in _hard_. He deserved to feel like shit. He sighed the kind of sigh that could only come from a regretful old man.

"I know I deserve worse, Sasuke-kun."

What? I opened my eyes and sat up to look at him. I crossed my arms and waited for him to say more. He just looked at me with tired, molten eyes that somehow managed to glow a little in the light of the fire despite how dull they were.

"Good. You deserve everything Sakura said you deserve."

Orochimaru nodded and went back to reading his book. I closed my eyes again.

We waited like that, just listening to Karin and Suigetsu's persistent arguing through the cracked kitchen window. They insulted each other and grunted in rage as they sparred. Suigetsu said something about Karin fighting better, but then he made the mistake of telling her that her rack looked nicer. Karin punched him and called him an unnatural bastard. He laughed, she screamed and they continued. Right about as they finished, Naruto waltzed into the house.

"Oiii teme." He grinned. "Where's Karin-nee-chan? We need to go buy food for this place, now that there's more of us." He leaned against the window. I looked up at him. Nice plan, Naruto. This way Orochimaru wouldn't know where the fuck they were _actually_ going.

"She's outside arguing with Suigetsu." I drawled. I think I would have to take Suigetsu up on his spar, if only to keep him here. I got up.

"I'll go with you. I'm bored, anyway."

"All right! Let teme know if you need anything, Orochi-hebi-teme, ne? Sakura-chan doesn't help people when she's mad at them." He rubbed his cheek, as if remembering a particularly painful time. He grinned as I grabbed my cloak and reached him, sliding my shoes on. Naruto was dripping wet so I'm sure it was raining hard back in Rena's village or somewhere along the way here. He didn't want to leave mud and rainwater all over the living room floor and I was grateful for that since it was going to be my temporary living space for the time being. I didn't mind going around the front of the house to the back, just to keep it clean. Naruto grinned as I opened the door for us and stepped out into the mild pattering of rainfall, mixed with an icy wind.

"Ja-na!" Naruto called over his shoulder. I shut the door and he grinned at me. I grinned back and we walked over to the back of the house, which was basically just an open, grassy field with some scattering of rocks and a few wildflowers growing here and there. There was mostly grass before you saw the mountains this valley was in-between. Suigetsu and Karin were taking shelter under an awning attached to the back of the house. Suigetsu was on the floor, grinning and Karin looked a little scuffed up. Her arms were crossed and she was glaring a patch of grass to death through her glasses. Her ponytail was slightly loose.

"Yo Karin-nee-chan!" Naruto grinned as he waved at his extended family. Karin looked up and gave him a pained smile.

"Oi, took ya' long enough, Naru-baka." She stuck her tongue out, completely avoiding looking at me.

"Ne, I need to go get some groceries from the town nearby, wanna come?"

She grimaced. "I hate carrying groceries."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"I brought extra storage seals!" He pouted. Karin chuckled as Suigetsu and I observed.

"Right, how else would you survive without your damned cup-ramen." She grinned. "All right. But I'm stopping to some bath soap along the way."

Naruto shrugged. "All right, let's go—ttebayo!" He looked naturally excited. I was impressed. Karin stepped forward, but Suigetsu grabbed her by her cloak. He pouted at Naruto.

"I wanna go too…"

"You're staying here. I need to try to cut something with Kusanagi." I did my best impression of being pissed off. Suigetsu paled.

"Eh!? I don't want my beautiful, amazing swords to break! Keep your fucking raiton out of the spar at least!" He looked like he was about to cry.

"Kenjutsu only. Hurry and go get your damned blades." I put some bite into my tone. Orochimaru would glean that I was pissed based off of Suigetsu's attitude. He would attribute it to our conversation, none the wiser. Karin would go with Naruto on a _really, really, really_ long grocery-run and explain everything to her then. In the meantime I'd call Tsunade and tell her to send the rest of team seven, Ino and Juugo over for Sakura's surprise party. I'd lie and tell Orochimaru that Naruto and Karin had been sent to get them and bring them here. Naruto and Karin return at the same time as the group from Konoha does—except with knowledge and information about fuuinjutsu— and no one asks any questions. Sakura has her research and her party and hopefully this mission goes off without a hitch.

Suigetsu shot up.

"All right, all right. Don't get your fucking sharingan in a bunch. I'll be right back." He disappeared inside the house through the back door. I double-checked to make sure I had the small toad seal Naruto slipped into my pocket once we stepped outside. We would need it to communicate.

"Be careful." I warned him.

Karin looked confused. Naruto grinned.

"Pshhh, as if anything can take down two badass Uzumaki." He stuck his tongue out as he wrapped his arm practically around Karin's neck and pulled her like a ragdoll into his armpit.

"Ugh, _ew_ Naru! You've been fucking running _all_ morning!" She tried desperately to wiggle out of his grip as he laughed his blonde ass off.

"Ja-ne, teme!" And he disappeared, Karin in tow. Suigetsu stepped outside, his swords strapped to his back, grinning like a madman. I was tired, but fuck it. I would spar with him. I was sure Suigetsu would be all for sealing Orochimaru. When I told him what was going on, he looked nervous as well. But I didn't know yet if I could trust him to keep his mouth shut about the research we were going to do. I'd have to observe him and try to feel out where his loyalties lie.

"You know, Sasuke we never actually _sparred_ together. We might raise some hell out here."

I smirked. He should see the hell Naruto, Sai and I made out of the training grounds in Konoha.

"I doubt that." I egged him on. His smirk remained, but his purple eyes sharpened.

"Now you're going to make me _want _to ruin Orochimaru's backyard."

I snorted.

"That's the point, baka."

Suigetsu laughed.

"Sasuke, you're a crazy fucking bastard." He replied as he unsheathed both swords and lunged at me. I slid kusanagi out of its sheath and blocked his head-on attack.

No, I'm not a crazy bastard… at least, not anymore….

-X-

It was noon when we finished sparring. I went upstairs, called Tsunade, updated her on the mission and on Sakura's disposition. She approved of Kakashi, Sai, Ino, and Juugo leaving to cheer Sakura up on her birthday. She said she'd send a gift with them and threatened me to get her something nice. I was relieved to find that her and Orochimaru had stopped writing to each other for the time being. She had no idea how he was doing, so I filled her in on his condition as well. After I disconnected from her, I went downstairs to tell my former sensei how fucked up it was that Sakura was wasting her life on his sorry ass during her birthday. I told him to expect visitors in a couple of weeks and to keep his forked-tongue silent about it. I made sure to let myself get extra pissed off about it as I told him that Naruto and Karin would be sent to get them and bring them here. I assumed that he assumed Juugo needed an escort and that aside from me, Naruto was the perfect one. In his mind, I was sure he thought Karin was drafted to leave with Naruto immediately just because she was with Naruto at the moment I called. Everything was going according to plan.

Now that all of that was out of the way. I went to make lunch. I made some for myself, some for Orochimaru, for which he thanked me for, and some for Sakura. I approached the basement door, but his voice stopped me.

"You love her." He rasped quietly.

I silently opened the door and shut it behind me.

…

…

…

I do.

-X-

SASUKE IS AWESOME! I love how cute Karin and Naruto are as a family. There wasn't much Sasusaku in this chapter and even I'm disappointed that I didn't put more into it. Well whatever, that's why we're going to have the Sasuke arc PART III next chapter! *grin* I'm going to have fun writing them. Anyway, this chapter was equally fun to write. I love Naruto and Sasuke's brotherly relationship. They're so fucking badass together. Suigetsu is _so_ much fun to write because he's such a crass comedian. He really doesn't hold back, which is what makes him so funny as a character. I hope I depicted Sasuke and Naruto's sneakiness and teamwork as best as possible in this chapter. As much as I love Sasusaku, you can't have Sasusaku without portraying a lot of the friendship between Sasuke and Naruto. I wanted to depict realistically how well they work together, sometimes without even saying anything. LOL Anyway, I'll see you guys next chapter! Thanks again for the reviews!

See ya' later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did, though. I'd have hella fun sticking Itachi and Sakura together in some batshit crazy time travel scenario HAHAHAHAHA


	30. SASUKE ARC PART III

KISEKI

|30|

*sniffle* WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! *Dusts off KISEKI* *Sob* My baby… I'm so sorry! *sniffle* *Sob* It's time I give you the attention you deserve!

LOL okay semester's over; it's WRITING TIME! I was absolutely astonished that I had to write an outline for this fanfiction. I never have to write those but my plot gets really intricate, and with all the details I had envisioned…. I had to seriously write everything down in an organized fashion FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! 

Anyway; I'm so sorry I've been gone, guys. Really. I feel so bad but the good news is *drum roll* I have a 3.8 GPA! :D The death of my social life and the horrendous coma that KISEKI has been in has paid off in the end.

-X-

When I turned the corner at the landing of the staircase, I saw Sakura hunched over the stainless steel table, furiously punching numbers into a calculator in her hand. There was dark liquid in one tube on a little tube rack, next to a tube of half a milliliter of red liquid and then next to a tube half-filled with clear liquid that I doubted was water. She was scribbling something on several sheets of paper next to the sheets of colorful DNA-paper on her table. She slammed her pencil down and pinched the bridge of her nose in between her two fingers. I carefully walked past her and placed her tray of food down, and mine next to it. I was glad I had somehow managed to carry everything downstairs without spilling or dropping anything; it would have been extra shit I'd have to worry about. I sat down and turned towards her. She turned towards me in response, the stress evident in her features. She hadn't gotten any sleep, either, judging by the barely-visible bags under her eyes.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked. She sighed and hunched over, shaking her head.

"I get insomnia sometimes. Ino says I should really look into a light sleep medication." She rubbed her forehead again, her fingers brushing the diamond in the center, as if she was contemplating using it, or begging it to somehow help her.

"It's addicting." I commented. Ino had put me on sleep medication too. It wasn't long before I was sleeping sixteen hours a day, just numbing myself to the emptiness I felt after the war. During my probation Naruto had waited for me to finally wake up, punched me so hard I saw stars and flushed the pills down the toilet for me. We didn't need to yell at each other to know what was going on. I just sat there as he stomped out, the empty pill box crushed in his fist, to tell Ino off. That following psych visit, I had told her what happened. She frowned and asked me why I didn't tell her that I got addicted to the meds. I just shrugged and we never talked about it again. Kakashi then suggested meditation before bed and for a while that's what I did until I could sleep normally… until the mental therapy worked and I was able to come to terms with everything.

"What is?" She asked, confused. "The sleep meds?" She guessed. I nodded. She frowned, a concerned expression on her face.

"You've been on them?" She asked softly. Damn her, she always somehow knows, but I shouldn't be surprise. She's smarter than I am; her grades were always just a notch above mine in the academy.

"Aa." There was an uncomfortable silence. I felt the need to usher it away. "…Just for a while."

"Mn..."

I was looking at the tiled floor, but I could feel her eyes on me.

"Well, I have a bad habit of ignoring Ino's advice." I looked up and she was smirking, standing up and walking over to sit closer. She was wearing a brick-colored turtleneck sweater that came down to her knees. I didn't understand why she was wearing such a long sweater, until she stood up and I realized it was a dress, since it hugged her every curve. The black tights she wore were soft-looking and she had on these odd-looking high-heeled shoes that covered her foot up to her ankles. Even though her lab coat was obscuring her figure any man would be a complete dumbass to not see how lithe and sexy she was underneath. A fucking monkey with half a brain would know she looked amazing.

I looked away and turned towards my food before my eyes lingered too long and she'd realize that I was staring. She's gotten better at reading me and the last thing I needed was for her to see my eyes and _where_ they were staring and then misinterpret what I wanted from her. If I hadn't been through years and years of training she would've been able to tell I was checking her out…definitely. I heard her sit next to me and sigh.

"Thank you." She spoke quietly, but her words were heavy and sounded like they had a double-meaning. Regardless, I didn't know why she was thanking me. I didn't realize she wasn't finished with her sentence.

"For the food… and the company... Sasuke." She clarified.

"Hn." As if it would have been a bother to me. She wasn't annoying in the same way she was when we were kids. It was enjoyable to be around her; despite the discomfort she caused my body.

She responded with a short laugh. "I'll take that as your version of 'you're welcome'." I frowned. I wanted to say more, because I figured I should, but I was nervous. She caught me off guard with her sincerity. How to be more open…without seeming weird? It wasn't normal for me to be talkative. I glared at my food. I sucked at this "trying" thing.

Sakura was right about what she said that one night. I've always had women throw themselves at my feet, ready to do anything to just be with me. When it came down to sex all I had to do was say yes or "follow me". It was never difficult. With Sakura it's difficult. I want her. She doesn't want me. What do _normal_ guys do to get the woman they want? I glared at my white rice; I could've fried it with my frustration, if I wanted. There wasn't a fucking guide book for this and I had never cared to observe others. How do you "try" at something like this?

"What's up your ass today?" Her frank statement caught me off guard. I felt my eyes widen a bit before I forced myself to relax. I looked over at her. She was chewing on an apple slice, one pink brow raised, waiting for a response, but not exactly expecting one anyway.

…

…

…

When the hell did I slice apples for her? My eyes snapped over to my plate in alarm. There were sliced apples there. When the _fuck_…? I almost felt like smacking my forehead. I wanted to peel mandarins for us. Mandarins. Not apples. I must have _actually _spaced out while preparing the food. I shook my head… I _had_ been thinking about the time that I hurt her feelings in the hospital when she cut apples for me… I must've grabbed apples from the fridge on accident.

"It's nothing." I replied as convincingly as I could. She shrugged and turned back to her food. I was glad she didn't press the issue.

Using my chopsticks I mechanically brought the rice and grilled salmon to my lips. What I really wanted was to spend more time with her; _that_ was what was bothering me. I wanted her to _care_ again. I wanted her to give me _some_ sign that she would care about me the same way as she did before. I just wanted _evidence_ to support me enough that I could tell her what's in my head. Should I _ask_ for some time with her? More time would equate to more opportunities to find evidence, right? I looked at her paperwork. The mission… I couldn't jeopardize the mission for my own personal needs…

…

…

…

Fuck it. I'm asking anyway. I glared at the opposite wall lined with bland, grey cabinets. But how in _hell _do you _ask_ something like that without being… _obvious_? But, would it be so obvious if I wanted her to go somewhere where we could talk about the fuuinjutsu plan? I have to stop coming up with excuses… But what if she said "no" if I straight up asked her bluntly? How fucked up would that be?

Shit… speaking of the fuuinjutsu idea…

…

Where the _fuck_ are my snakes and why are they being so slow? I wanted to smack my forehead; I realized it hadn't even been twenty-four hours since I deployed them; I'm losing my fucking mind…again. Since the snakes were gone I now had no excuse to ask her to spend time with me. None.

…

…

…

But Naruto would just ask… I think Nii-sama would have asked as well. I sipped on my open can of green tea and tried _very_ hard not to slam it down with determination.

Do or die, Sasuke. Besides, what's the worst that can happen? Why would she say "no" to a friend?

"Come for a walk with me after this…" Shit. It was out of my mouth now; no turning back. It wasn't exactly a question but it was the only way I could think of getting my point across without sounding... awkward? She looked over at me. My eyes slid over to look at her. A second passed where I swear to kami I thought I could hear Orochimaru's wheezing breaths upstairs through the sound proof ceiling of the basement…

"Why?" She asked, tilting her head to the side a little.

What!? What woman ever asks _why_? I almost rolled my eyes. Sakura _would_. Only Sakura.

I needed a reason that I didn't have. I shouldn't have expected her to just shrug and say okay. I'm a fucking idiot. Trying to keep my composure, I swallowed and shrugged.

"You plan on locking yourself down here for weeks on end?" I retorted, and fuck me I sounded defensive.

But I had a good point; what about some fresh air? She would wilt like a dying plant in here. It wasn't healthy to stay underground for extended periods of time… right? That was a good point…_Right_?

"Well, yeah. It's kind of what I do." She said in an almost-bored tone, shrugged and went back to popping clumps of rice into her mouth with her wooden sticks. If I had a better range of expressions I'd be gaping at her.

"_It's kind of what I do"…_?

"Besides, if I go upstairs I might deck Suigetsu. That guy has some nerve." I looked at her and she was glaring at my shoulder, holding her chopsticks so tightly they were about to snap, probably remembering something I hadn't been around to witness.

"What did he do?" I asked, eyes narrowed. Suigetsu _would_ do shit to intentionally piss her off. Fucking with people with tempers was his _thing_.

"It's not what he _did_, it's what he _said_." Her eyes flicked to mine for a second and she blushed.

Calmly, I raised a brow. She sighed, rolled her eyes and waved her hand around in annoyance as she explained.

"He made a stupid remark about my ass today. It's not _that_ big is it?" She crossed her arms cheeks still pink as if she were insecure. I must have been looking at her like she had two heads.

Her ass? Too big? No. Her ass was _perfect_ if anything.

"_What_?" She glared at me. "Don't tell me you thi—

"Suigetsu's an idiot. He'll say anything to get a woman mad." I clarified, and then turned back to my food. I prayed, _prayed_ to kami-sama that my face wasn't as red as it felt.

"What's his problem? Seriously." She grumbled under her breath. We ate in amiable silence after that last remark. When we were done I collected the dishes and stood.

"I'll be by later with dinner." I informed her. She smiled up at me from her seat. Did I ever mention how bright her eyes look when she's genuinely happy? For a second, I just looked at the different shades of green in them. I wish I had my sharingan activated so I could remember every detail.

"Thanks."

I nodded and turned to leave. After lunch, I hunted down Suigetsu. I egged him into a spar and watered the garden with his face. He couldn't figure out for the life of him why I was going so hard during a spar, but my point was made. If he mentally abused Sakura again, I'd physically abuse him again. He'd eventually connect the dots. Pain is the best teacher, after all.

-X-

A few days later, I took up the habit of reading while Sakura worked. She seemed alone every time I saw her at lunch or at dinner, so one day I decided to just stay until it was time to make food again, and then I stayed again. When she was finally done, or falling asleep at the table, I'd force her upstairs. Sometimes she insisted on napping and then continuing in "a few hours"; that was bullshit that I didn't let fly with me.

Eventually my snakes came back. They brought back a few scrolls on the curse-seal that I got to reading immediately, but they were only documented cases and side effects as well as detailed description of "positive" effects. There was an entire section of scroll reserved for each person that survived the marking process of the seal. There was a profile on me accompanied with detailed drawings of my mutated body. I cringed and honestly felt the urge to set the scroll on fire; I can't _believe_ I allowed that shit to _mutate_ me all in the name of revenge… I was a dumb kid… I should've had more faith in nii-san when he was alive.

The next scroll had just the beginnings of the patterns the seal required, since the curse-seal was many seals within one seal. There were a lot of patterns and most I couldn't begin to comprehend. The worst part was that I knew Orochimaru had only used _some_ sections of the patterns on this scroll in his finished product.

The third scroll only told me that the sealer had to have the seal put on himself before he sealed his target. This required an exchange of blood to bind the two bodies together for as long as the sealer wished. Hence why Orochimaru fucking bit me and why I became feverish. The blood-transfer allowed an opening for him to leak his chakra into my body. Anytime one transfers chakra into another there's a risk of death if it's not done right. Very few survive a chakra infusion that flows independently of their own. Your body has to adapt and adjust on-sight, hence why the curse-seal is so dangerous. It's an understatement how much skill Naruto has to have if he was able to replenish hundreds and thousands of people and their chakra by transferring his into them during the war. One slip-up… and it would've been pretty bad… I sighed and placed the scroll back. About an hour ago I had sent the snakes to search for more curse-seal artifacts after I fed them… which grossed Sakura out. She had asked where I had acquired so many mice and crickets.

…Every shinobi has his secrets…

"Learn anything?" She asked, picking her head up from her work and peering at me sleepily. She was examining something under a microscope and it was getting late. I shook my head.

"Unless you can figure out which parts of which seals he used, no." I grimaced. Did she know she would be a part of him forever if she did this? "If you seal him using his method the two of you will be a part of each other until he dies…" I explained. She wrinkled her nose.

"No thanks." She placed her hands into her lap. She was in comfortable fitted shinobi pants today and a white, baggy sweater that exposed one shoulder, which was currently covered by her labcoat. We stared at each other for a while.

"Naruto's still looking, he mi—

Speak of the devil, a frog jumped out of my pocket and croaked at a surprised Sakura, as if to ask her what her problem was when it was the one that just interrupted her. She stared at it with wide eyes. Its mouth opened.

"Yo teme!" The voice coming from the frog was all-too-familiar. Naruto. I smirked because his timing was perfect.

"Oi." I replied.

"Naruto!" Sakura smiled fondly at the frog.

"Oh hey, Sakura-chan! I have good news!"

I could _hear_ him grinning.

"Talk." I commanded, sounding only half-commanding. Naruto would be able to read my own excitement in my voice.

"Jeez, teme, did Orochimaru stick his snake in yo— _Ow! _Karin-nee-chan!"

"Just tell them!" Karin grumped sounding about half a foot away from him.

"Okay okay, we found something good! And it's not too complicated… if you have Karin-chan explain it—ttebayo!"

"We found an explosive tracking seal that links to the caster's chakra." Karin explained. Sakura and I looked at each other, then at the little Orange and blue frog on the table. Karin sighed. "I mean— well, I don't know, I'll explain it when we get back. We're going to look for more, but it seems like our best bet for now."

"Oh! We ran into Shikamaru by the way!" Naruto revealed.

"What!?" Sakura and I shouted in unison. Tsunade was _not_ supposed to know about Naruto and Karin being in Uzushio!

"Relax, relax—ttebayo. He's okay with it. He promised he wouldn't say anything to anyone."

"Are you sure?" Sakura hissed. "…Because if you're not…"

She looked like an agitated tiger. I now understand why she has a tiger mask for anbu… I placed a hand on her shoulder. Shikamaru was Naruto's friend. He had never judged him before, even when others hated him and he supported him throughout their entire friendship. He could be trusted. She looked up at me. I only gave a slight tip of my head before she relaxed and Naruto interrupted.

"Shikamaru was a little nervous too… You guys know he doesn't like plans without backup plans…" Naruto defended, a little put out that Sakura was so hostile.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I'm just a little stressed. I don't want to screw up…" The "_again" _went unsaid after I dropped my hand from her shoulder. She must still be upset that she couldn't help enough when we were younger. The memories from the forest of death are probably the most prominent in her mind, especially since we're talking about a curse-seal similar to the one put on me… I could imagine she must be pissed that she didn't have her monstrous strength back then… I think if she did, her me and Naruto could've stopped that from happening long enough for anbu to come and back our team up. But what's done is done. She shouldn't be guilty over it now.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan! When we get back you'll be happy, you'll see—ttebayo!"

Naruto always knew how to reassure her. She gave a small smile and nodded.

"We have to go. I have to go back to analyzing and Naruto has to get back to searching. Are you guys ok back there?" Karin interjected. Her question was more geared towards Sakura than to me.

Sakura smiled at the little frog.

"I'm better. I'm sorry I didn't say much to you when you were here, Karin." Sakura replied gently. Karin laughed.

"Hah! No big deal, Sakura. Speaking, of which, where is that asshole Suigetsu anyway? Has Orochimaru boiled him yet?" She asked.

Sakura laughed.

"Eeh, what's this inquiry? Why are you interested?" Sakura slyly replied. I smirked. Suigetsu and Sakura had _something_ in common… that being grilling Karin.

"O-oi! No reason! Why are _you_ asking about why _I'm _asking, huh!?" Predictably, she replied in a defensive tone.

Sakura giggled and I snickered when I heard Naruto howl with laughter in the background.

"Suigetsu's his usual self. Orochimaru hasn't boiled him, but that _does_ give me an idea…" Sakura responded, ending the joke.

Karin chuckled. "Well, don't get _too_ science-happy. Anyway, we'll be there in about a week."

"Great. We'll see you guys then." Sakura replied with a fond smile.

"Bye Sakura-chan; Teme!" Naruto was as enthusiastic as always. He must be driving Karin insane on purpose, though I couldn't blame him. She was easily riled; that was mostly why people chose to rile her up.

"Ja-na." I replied almost mechanically. I was looking forward to Naruto coming back, but the one-week deadline kicked my stress into gear. Would I have _any _time to get Sakura a gift? I chewed my bottom lip as the frog disappeared with a poof.

"Well that makes things easier. What they have sounds promising." She looked up at me as she spoke and looked a little happier, despite the dark circles under her eyes. I nodded.

"It's time to sleep." I spoke.

We should've left the damned lab an hour ago, but I got caught up reading. At least we stayed up long enough to have a decent conversation with Naruto and Karin.

"You go on ahead. There's no point in me tossing and turning and frustrating myself instead." She crossed her arms, immediately on the defensive because she knew this was going to turn into a debate. I crossed my arms and gave her a look. I made sure to cast a genjutsu on my eyes, to make them _appear_ black while I activated my sharingan underneath.

Suddenly, I found myself slammed up against the wall, Sakura's fists in the collar of my standard black shirt. I saw her move, but I didn't expect her to step into my defense so early and do what she did. I looked down at her, and tried not to smirk in approval. The move was good, I had to admit.

"You think you could pull a simple genjutsu trick on me _and_ catch me with the sharingan, Sa-su-keee…" She deadpanned angrily. Well, there was no use in hiding it now. I let the genjutsu on my eyes drop and she smirked as she stared defiantly into the red of the sharingan. I have to say, I missed nights like this where we would piss each other off. It was even more exciting now that I knew she could negate the abilities of the sharingan, especially the tsukuyomi.

"Aa. I did. I was wrong." I replied bluntly. "But that doesn't mean I can't still try." I clarified. It was for her benefit. Besides, I wanted out of this damned house. I wanted to be out of the cold and back in Konoha where _home_ was, even if I was ostracized by some people there. Thus, the more she slept, the better she worked; the better she worked, the quicker we could be out of here.

I tried to capture her in a genjutsu again to prove my point. Surprisingly, she smiled calmly and let me drag her in. Maybe she was tired of her insomnia… Either way, she crumpled into my chest and I made sure to adjust her so I could carry her. It made me happy somewhere that she trusted me with her unconscious body. It meant a lot that she allowed herself to be vulnerable in my presence.

I made her genjutsu simple; she was in a cottage, in a field, working on something medicine-related. I would let her imagination do the rest. She'd fall asleep eventually. I carried her upstairs, ignored Suigetsu's obnoxious snoring in the living room, went to her room and placed her on her bed. I covered her with the blue duvet on the guest bed and flicked the light off. I padded back to my room and summoned four hawks. Toushi was amongst them. He immediately perched on my wrist; his favorite spot. Heishi clawed my other wrist as he looked at me, and Tai and Mei, the smaller twins sat one on each of my forearms, next to the older birds. I activated my mangekyou and pulled them all into Tsukuyomi where I would understand their thoughts and give them accurate instructions with my own. It would help for them to know a little about Sakura as well…

For a while I just replayed all of the memories I had of my time with Sakura… they weren't happy about all the times I made her cry. Mei, the only female of the group seemed the most aggravated. Ignoring her obvious disapproval, I spoke.

"That is everything I know about Sakura. Toushi, you've already met her. It's her birthday soon and I need to get her a gift that will suit her, but I don't have the time. I want you four to fly as far as you need to to find something unique for her. I don't care about the expense."

"_Sasuke-sama, I believe you should grovel on your knees. It would be the most suitable gift." _Mei, of course. Her thoughts were blunt, cold and unforgiving. I couldn't blame her.

"No."

"_Please pay no mind to the young ones, Sasuke-sama. Do you have any other criteria or ideas you can supply us with?" _I smiled at Toushi, genuinely smiled at him. He was a good hawk; successful and responsible.

"Look for anything that isn't pink, apparently." I smirked as I responded. Tai and Heishi's minds were pleased, humored.

"_The time limit, Sasuke-sama?" _Heishi asked. I smirked. He liked competition, specifically with Toushi.

"_Behave yourself, Heishi."_ Toushi chastised condescendingly as he possessively jumped over to my right shoulder. Balancing Mei on my forearm, I reached up to pet Toushi's wings with the back of my hand.

"If you guys want to get competitive… the time limit is one week. The one who comes back with ten gift ideas in the shortest amount of time will get an extra mouse and a jewel to wear as they please. The winner will also have the honor of retrieving the best gift out of all the suggestions." They seemed pleased with this; even the younger hawks were getting excited. "Don't get sloppy, though. I want legitimately _good_ gift suggestions. If you come back with any ordinary ideas, I _will_ know and I will _not_ be happy with you." I warned.

"_Of course, Sasuke-sama." _Toushi replied politely.

"_Let's get started! I want to go to Kirigakure!" _Mei replied impatiently. If a hawk could glare, Heishi would be glaring at her. The bird narrowed his large eyes just a bit.

"_Are you a fool? That is an incredibly long flight! If you tire, Sasuke-sama will have to collect you. Don't embarrass yourself." _He chastised.

"_Hey! Mei is __**great**__ at flight!" _Tai defended his sister, speaking for the first time. He was silent until he was needed. Mei flew over to Tai and nudged her head against his— a 'thank you' in their specific culture.

"_You are all free to do as you please. But please be mindful of Sasuke-sama's time limit." _Toushi settled the almost-argument and all the birds nodded towards each other. I smirked in appreciation; once Toushi gets a little bigger, he'll become my main summon for battle. I pulled them all out of the world of tsukuyomi and patted them all before I sent them out the window.

Mentally exhausted, I dropped down to the floor and did a hundred push-ups to relax. I rolled over and did the same amount of suit-ups, and then went through some katas, remembering that I'd have to continue training Udon when I get back. Hopefully, we'll get back in time and I'll be able to train with him before the jounin exams come up. I didn't bother undressing; I just kicked my shoes off and crawled into bed.

-X-

Over the course of the next week, Sakura was amused by the number of times my snakes popped out of my scrolls, and today, just five days after I gave my hawks a time limit Suigetsu aggravatedly pulled open the basement door.

"Kami-sama fucking dammit Sasuk-_e_! I open the door and these things fucking went _through_ me!"

Toushi and Heishi flew downstairs.

"Who got through the door first?" I called back up, ignoring his complaining.

"Te-m_e!_ You don't even care!" Suigetsu sounded offended but I ignored him; he'd get over it.

"Are you going to stop bitching and answer my question?" I called back up as Heishi settled on my left shoulder and Toushi settled on my right. Sakura gasped as she turned around from her work.

"Toushi-kun!" She exclaimed, and Toushi cocked his head to look at her, then nodded. I don't think I've seen Sakura so entertained in a long time. I smirked.

"Tch. The fucking one with the brown; not the black." Suigetsu answered, still pissed off.

So Toushi won the race. Suigetsu grumbled something I didn't care to hear and slammed the door. Sakura snorted when it was safe. Toushi flew over to her and she looked surprised when he sat on her lap. I hoped her fitted pants were thick enough that his claws didn't poke through to her skin. She seemed happy as she petted his head, which came up to her clavicle, so I didn't worry too much.

"Eh, you're friendly today." She grinned. "Thanks for almost killing Suigetsu." Toushi rumbled back to her and she giggled. Very slick, Toushi, you know how to get Sakura's attention better than I do.

The basement door opened again.

"Raaaagh! I'm gonna fucking grill these things if any more of them piss me off!"

Mei and Tai flew down the staircase. Mei ignored me and settled on Sakura's shoulder. She rubbed her head against Sakura's face, making Sakura laugh.

"What's this one's name?" She asked as she reached up to pat Mei on the wings.

"That's Mei." I replied, frowning at the little hawk. She was still mad at me, but I wasn't about to complain. _Someone_ should be punishing me for the fucked up things I said and did.

"She's cute!" Mei cooed next to Sakura's face and nibbled on her ear. I rolled my eyes as Tai finally decided to stop hovering around and found a perch on top of my head. Sakura laughed at me and I sighed.

"Come on, we have business." I spoke towards Mei. She rubbed her head against Sakura's cheek on more time before she flew over onto my forearm. Toushi took his usual place on my right shoulder and I began to walk up the stairs.

"What business?" Sakura asked, now curious since she'd seen all of my summons this past week. "You've been getting things from your summons all week… what do they have for you?"

I smirked at her. She wasn't going to find out so easily.

"Information." I cryptically responded. She shot me a disdainful look but I turned away, ignoring it. "I'll be back with dinner." I replied. It was still early; about ten in the morning, so I'd have time to review everything they brought back. Once I was upstairs in my room I pulled my summons into Tsukuyomi.

"All right; Toushi won. Let's see what gift ideas you spotted."

His memories played out in the red-and-black sky and we all watched. I smirked as I saw him infiltrate shops through chimneys and abandoned windows, and how he sometimes just blatantly flew through a door someone opened.

Of course, the first few things were shiny objects. He spotted a pair of ruby-red stud earrings in Iwagakure. Kurotschi recognized him and he spent a few minutes with her before flying off.

In a small village nearby, he found a yellow diamond on a thin, delicate chain.

Afterwards, he flew to another Iwa village and found a ring at a jeweler who crafted original pieces. The man was old, but he knew his shit, apparently. The ring was silver and the centerpiece of it was a tribal flame that twisted and rose elegantly to a point. At the bottom-center of the silver flame rested a small, but tasteful tear-drop-shaped ruby.

But I wasn't out to get her jewelry and Toushi must have known this.

The next place he stopped was Suna. He flew _far_. The first place he went to was an herbologist's shop. The old woman was plump but kind. She allowed Toushi to follow her around. Bored, she even spoke to him about the rare plants she had in stock.

…But I had no idea what Sakura wanted plant-wise. I'm not a medic, but this was good to know anyway. He stopped at a silk store next, where they made all sorts of beautiful dresses out of silk. Toushi's eye caught a nice red one that would have been perfect to wear during the summer. But I didn't want to give her anything too forward or anything she wouldn't often get the chance to use.

Sifting through his memories, the best option he presented me with was a delicate hairpiece from a small town in fire country that doubled as a senbon; dangerous only when chakra was applied to it. It was a red fire-lilly whose bottom set of petals folded over to twist into a long, straight point. The piece was made of metal coated with a thin, but sturdy layer of red glass— no doubt, some careful katon-jutsu was used to forge the piece. Even I could tell it would have taken the help of another person to make.

Perfect. It was a weapon, but it was beautiful. If she ever needed to go undercover and needed a subtle, unnoticeable weapon to bring with her— AKA _not_ her obnoxious fists— this would be perfect.

I patted Toushi on the head. Out of curiositie's sake, I reviewed Heishi, Mei, and Tai's memories as well. Heishi had found a battle-axe that would have been a great gift, but not for now. Mei found a beautifully decorated, blank scroll for Sakura to write important things on. Also, another good gift idea. Tai found a katana that I would have appreciated more than Sakura would. The ten gifts he found were mostly weapons anyway. At least he tried.

"All right, you three can rest. I'll feed you guys while Toushi gets the pin he found for Sakura." I instructed and broke the genjutsu. Toushi flew out the window and I pulled out a scroll with tons of mice and squirrels in it. Mei, Tai, and Heishi begrudgingly ate while I threw myself onto my bed, closed my eyes and exhaled. That was a lot of stress off of my shoulders.

…Now when the hell is Naruto getting back so we can finish this mission?

-X-

Okie-day! That was it for this chapter. I figured I should put a little bit of Sasuke and his summons in this one. Nothing is cuter than a man who loves animals and Sasuke struck me as a kind summoner. He told Aoda to take a break because he didn't need him anymore during the war and I thought that was caring, since it was evident that he could've just ditched him and left him open to be attacked.

LOL someone should make a meme #justsasukethings for this fic. That would be funny. Actually, if any of you have fan art for KISEKI that you'd like to share I'd be more than happy to put the links in the author's notes for you since I'm a terrible artist ;_;. I'm not _asking_ for fan art or anything, but if this fic inspired any artists… it would mean the world to me to see the artwork.

Ugh my god, I missed you guys like so much, by the way. I wanted to write so badly because I was so stressed especially during finals week but I really had to prioritize T_T.


	31. SASUKE ARC PART IV

KISEKI

|31|

ALLLL RIGHTEY. I was happy with this one, now that I'm back in the groove of writing Sasuke. Hope you guys enjoy!

-X-

It's the day of Sakura's birthday. Naruto's due here any hour now, and I've already terrorized Suigetsu twice, threatening to use his face as a glass-cleaner if he didn't help me clean.

I had gone out earlier that morning to buy food for the party, since Naruto was focusing on getting everyone here without attracting any attention; not easy to do when you're leading a group like that. Suigetsu was currently vacuuming upstairs, and Orochimaru decided to finally say something for the first time in the five hours since I've been up and about.

I was cleaning the glass table in front of his chair, in between him and the couch, just listening to the glass making squeaking noises as I polished it.

"You've been trying very hard, Sasuke-kun." He spoke in that _annoyingly_ nostalgic tone. I shot him a glare.

"You'd better not be here when everyone gets here." I threatened back. I wasn't about to let him ruin Sakura's party. Naruto had contacted me yesterday and told me that Ino would be bringing a camera. If Sakura was going to get copies of the pictures, I'd be damned if Orochimaru was going to stain a single one of them with his face.

"That's a given." He replied, so unper-fucking-turbed. Then…

"When will you tell her you love her?"

My hand stilled and I looked up at him. He didn't flinch, but the way his sagging face turned to stone told me all I needed to know; he was afraid… probably because my expression was either dangerous or cold; either way he knew he'd better tread carefully. I did _not_ like him nosing into my feelings.

"If you don't keep your mouth shut it won't end well for you." I threatened again. It was perfectly okay for him to notice that I liked Sakura, a lot; that I loved her. It was _not_ okay for him to tell her and fuck everything up for me. "And don't play therapist; I already have one of those." I didn't want to talk about any of this with him; I had Ino and Naruto for these kinds of conversations and I only consulted Ino when I was at my wit's end.

Orochimaru chuckled. Fuck him. I continued shining the table. The streaks on the glass were starting to piss me off and he wasn't helping my mood.

"Don't wait." He graveled out, then wheezed and strained to get up. I rolled my eyes. I didn't want his advice. Fuck his advice. I could take however long I wanted or needed to to tell her how I feel. Regardless, he needed to go somewhere and I was his fucking babysitter as of now.

"Bathroom?" I asked neutrally. He shook his head.

"No, bedroom." He replied. "I may as well retreat now." It still unsettled me to see him this old and weary. Back then, even when I thought I killed him, I didn't _really_ kill him since he made a fucking home for himself inside my body. It took Itachi's Susanoo's legendary sword of totsuka to rid me of him entirely. Even then, I was able to bring him back from _somewhere_. He's like a plague. Even when you think you defeated him, he's still alive somewhere; just dormant. But now, he was really shriveling up; _actually dying_… for good. It was weird seeing him so frail when before he was the scourge of our lives, technically. Regardless, it still feels wrong to give him a chance when he had so many before; twisted fuck.

I nodded, left the bottle of cleaner and paper towels on the glass table and walked over to pull him up by his arm and the collar of his kimono like a mother dog would carry her pup by its neck; I didn't really want to get too personal and sling his arm over my shoulder; who knows if he still has some last-resort sick shit up his sleeve or not.

Once he was up and in possession of his cane, I crossed the distance to the other side of the room, where his bedroom was strategically placed; it would've been a nightmare trying to help him up the stairs if his room was on the second floor. I opened his door and helped him inside. Nothing had changed except for the amount of books on the small wooden nightstand next to the generic lamp with its bland, white lampshade. The comforter of his full-twin bed was a warm burgundy and the four or five pillows were a pale crème color. The carpeting was high-piled and a generic grey-white color. Once he was under his covers, I turned the light on for him.

"Arigato, Sasuke-kun." He rasped and he was grateful but I still didn't care. I usually felt guilty for being an asshole; being around Naruto had made me a little forgiving, but it hadn't made me _that_ forgiving.

"Hn."

He looked pitiful and my conscience kicked up inside me again, but I stepped on it and killed it. I reminded myself of how he had scarred Naruto, Sakura and I. I felt minutely merciful at the moment, so I left his door open a crack and retreated to the kitchen to make him tea and something to eat. Once that was done I delivered it to him. He nodded, as did I.

"Flash three times if you need anything else." I ordered. He nodded. He barely had any chakra left to pulsate but I'd still be able to sense it since he wasn't far. Suigetsu came back downstairs, hefting the vacuum over his shoulders like a prize with a shit-eating grin on his face. He had a smug strut to his walk and I knew I wasn't going to like what he said next… He opened the closet door and placed the vacuum in it and just as he shut the door…

"So… pinky has some pretty cute thongs in her—

I threw the bottle of cleaner straight through his face as hard as I could. I wish I had thrown an electrified shuriken so I could pink him to the door in a half-liquid state. I had half a mind to summon a kunai and do it anyway but he was prepared to dodge anything now.

"O-oi!" He growled, offended as the cleaner went through his face and hit the wooden closet door.

"Watch it! Fuck man, I thought you'd want to know when you fu—

"Watch your mouth." I retorted, interrupting him; besides I already knew what Sakura's underwear looked like; we did laundry together. "And _don't _go sneaking through Sakura's underwear; she might find a way to evaporate you." I warned… or _I_ might find a way to turn him into water…_permanently. _

He picked up the bottle of cleaner and checked it for cracks; why he cared, I don't know.

"Make yourself useful and clean the windows." I commanded.

"It's fucking raining outside!" He shot back with an incredulous look in his purple eyes.

I paused for a moment. How did that even make sense? He was _made_ of water.

"So? You don't have problems with water." I supplied frankly.

There was silence as he thought about that while we stared each other down.

"But… it's half-_snowing_ out there…" He whined, almost defeated.

"You shouldn't have pissed me off, hentai." I replied in a bored tone. "Go or deal with my chidori-nagashi. Your choice." I replied as I went to check on the cake in the refrigerator for the thousandth time.

"Tch; you won't." I shut the refrigerator door and leaned against it when I turned back around, crossing my arms.

"I'll rip apart this entire house if I have to; it's not mine anyway." I promised coldly. I wasn't serious about making him clean the windows; it would make no sense to. It _was_ raining outside, but that wasn't my point. I just felt like making him feel stupid.

He stared at me a moment. Then glared.

"Fucking asshole." He grumbled. I smirked.

He turned around and walked outside with the cleaner; slamming the door shut behind him.

I wonder how long it'll take him to realize that I was just fucking with him and that he fell back into old habits… I was the leader of Taka, and the members almost always did what I told them to, even when their tasks were menial while setting up camp.

It didn't take him long to come back, surprisingly.

He slammed the door shut hard enough for the window next to it to shake, stomped inside two steps, and kicked his shoes off so hard they hit the wall. He grabbed one of my boots and threw it at my head but I caught it, pissing him off more.

"Fuck you, Sasuke!"

"No thanks." I replied. He was still glaring and I was still smirking. I threw my shoe back at him and then walked about the living room, straightening things here and there.

Suigetsu barely stepped three feet into the living room before both of our heads snapped to the basement door. Sakura's chakra was dangerously close to the door; she was making her way up the steps. Suigetsu and I looked at each other, alarmed. I threw myself onto the couch and adopted a relaxed position. Suigetsu shunshinned, grabbed one of his swords and the rag he was using to clean it earlier that day. He grabbed a book off of the shelf his swords were leaning against and threw it at me. I caught it and he flash-stepped on the couch next to me, placing the sword on his lap and pretended to polish it, just as I opened the book to a random page, and pretended to read. Just then, in that millisecond, Sakura opened the door.

I flicked my eyes up at her and she smiled in return. She was in a tight, black, turtle-necked dress, burgundy tights…they were called tights, right(?), and black boots that did nothing to hide the shape of her lower-legs. She tilted her head at me in curiosity.

"It smells really clean." She said as she shut the door behind her. Suigetsu stiffened, but decided to make a stupid comment anyway to take her mind off of the _really_ clean smell in the house. She'd get suspicious if she knew we were cleaning and prepping for something all morning.

"Nice of ya' to finally leave your cave, pinky. How's the light of day looking?" He joked. Sakura shot him a wry smirk.

"Gray as usual." She replied, and then threw her head towards the window next to the front door where there was nothing but grey sky and dingy grass. She walked across the dull but now clean carpet. Worried she'd see the cake, I _casually_ put my book on the table I was cleaning minutes ago, and stood up before she even reached the couch. I beat her to the kitchen if only because my legs were longer than hers. I pretended to make tea, grabbing a mug— that I _just_ fucking washed— from the cabinet, because I wasn't sure if she was going to go for the refrigerator. If I acted protective of the refrigerator from the get-go she'd get suspicious.

"We have apples, ne, Sasuke?" She asked and that was the question that made utter doom and horror settle into the pit of my stomach. I turned to look at her as she approached the _fucking_ refrigerator. Kami-sama _damn it_ the _one_ day she actually comes upstairs there's a cake for her in the refrigerator she wants to look into. Suigetsu shot me a worried look from the corner of his eye. Even though he disrespected Sakura with his perverted mouth, he still appreciated her for her skill as a shinobi and as a medic— it's not like he hadn't heard of her— and he didn't want the surprise to be blown for her just as much as the rest of us.

Ignoring my lack of response, she placed her hand on the stainless-steel handle.

_Fuck._

Time seemed to slow down… I prayed that my sharingan hadn't accidentally activated.

I crossed the short distance between the kitchen counter and refrigerator _just_ as she opened the refrigerator a crack. I smashed my palm into the door, surprising her and slamming it shut in front of her face at the same time.

Fuck. _Fuck_. What now?

She spun around, expertly avoiding brushing against my chest and abs, a pissed-off/surprised expression on her face.

"What the _fuck_ Sasuke!?" She shouted up at me. She was half-confused, half-angry. I only stared at her for a millisecond before the beginning of a lie tumbled out of my mouth.

"It's your birthday." I stated cryptically. Suigetsu stopped polishing his sword; practically frozen in time.

"Right. It _is _my birthday… _and I want a damn apple_." Then, as if it just hit her, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

_Fuck_.

"What are you hiding in there?" She accused. It was definitely more of an accusation than a question. She moved to turn around, but I threw her off balance by pressing her should into the fridge; not harshly or anything, but I still pushed her up against the fridge, keeping one hand on her shoulder; the other against the fridge. I can't fucking tell you how clichéd and pornographic being in this position felt.

"Nothing; is it hard to believe we want to do things for you on your birthday…n_a_, Suigetsu…" There was _almost_ a threat in my voice that Suigetsu read, but Sakura didn't visibly pick up on.

"Ah?" He sounded like he hadn't been paying attention; good. "Mn… we can be Pinky's slaves today…that might be kinda sexy actually…"

Suigetsu was turned around. Suigetsu didn't hear her growl. Suigetsu didn't see her wriggle out of my grasp, reach under my arm and pull a mug off of the drying rack next to us…

"Oi, pinky-chan are you into BDSM, I heard you're pretty-stro—

_Crrrrrrack! _The mug broke right over the back of his head where his occipital bone was.

"ITAI! What the _fuck!?_ Why can't either of you fucking take a joke!?" He screamed as his hand flew to the back of his head. He turned and glared at her. That response was genuine; he really didn't see that coming from her. I resisted the urge to snort.

"Why don't you make better jokes than the ones you make, then, hen_tai-_baka!?" Sakura shouted back across the open space between the kitchen and living room, pointing a finger at his offended expression.

"Well because your ass would look great with that red-lace thong you own and I can't help it if I can't keep my fucking dick down Kami-sama _damn it_!" He shouted back. This is where shit hit the fan… I think I _heard_ Sakura's patience snap, like a pencil bent too far in one direction; the crack was pretty loud since she had been taking his shit without really injuring him since he got here…

Sakura sucked in a breath, and then her face turned red with embarrassment, but I didn't miss the absolute _hell_ in her eyes. Suigetsu was going to die… but he had succeeded in distracting Sakura.

"TE-_ME!_" She shouted, angry as a bull seeing red. She moved away from me, like a lioness ready to pounce and _shred apart _her prey and Suigetsu gaped at her like an idiot; he only _just_ realized how badly he had fucked up.

Would I be an asshole if I said I was excited to see what would happen next?

"I'm going to fucking boil you alive you nosy, hentai, _stupid,_ shark-toothed _ero-yaro_!" And just like that she lunged at the couch, fist pulled back. Suigetsu jumped back, laughing; his fear replaced with probably misplaced excitement. He's really going to die.

"Na, _na,_ pin-ky-chan! You're kinda hot when you're mad!" He snickered as he dodged her and rolled away, sword in-hand. He stood upright on the living room floor as she landed on the couch we _just_ straightened up.

Sakura stood straight-shouldered on said couch and glared down at my might-as-well-be-dead former teammate. Her cheeks were still pink, and I would have defended her at this point if A), she couldn't already defend herself, and B) if I didn't have fucking apples to cut.

I reached into the refrigerator as she chased him around the living room—thank _kami-sama_ not ruining anything important—and ignored me. I sliced up three apples while they brawled. Yes, three, only because I didn't want her coming up the stairs again until Naruto got back. If she wanted apples, I was going to own the little white dish in front of me with apples. I poured her a glass of iced green-tea-lemonade that I had purchased from a shop earlier today, while she screamed obscenities at him, and while he laughed and shot something perverted back at her. I heard a loud thump and when I turned around, I saw Sakura sitting on Suigetsu's back. She tugged on his hair, pulling his neck back harshly.

"APOLOGIZE, MOTHERFUCKER!" She screamed into his ear. If he didn't die today, he'd definitely go def.

"Oh man, you know Pinky, I can feel _it_ rubbing against my back." He replied with a grin on his face and in his tone.

Holy shit…

I gaped. I fucking gaped. Suigetsu had a death wish… He _really_ just went there…

Sakura turned red and released an unholy growl of rage that could compete with any biju we had met during the war.

"_SHANNNNAROOOO!" _

…Aaaaand she started to bash his face against the carpet… repeatedly.

"AH!—

His face slammed against the floor, then she pulled it up again.

"Sas—

_Slam! _

"—ke!—

_Slam! _

"Rescue—

_Slam! _

"—me!"

_Slam_!

I debated on that… He _did _say some fucked up things to her that I'm sure he actually, _partially_ meant…

"Like _hell_ will anyone help you!" She shouted as she rubbed his face into the floor, probably giving him some serious rug-burn. I winced. Ouch.

He turned himself completely into water just as I began to walk over. Sakura rose to her feet, straightening the dress that had ridden up over the course of Suigetsu's beat-down, her glare still in place. He slinked across the floor, and then materialized again, cowering about three feet behind me like a child afraid to be beaten by their mother.

"Sasu-_ke_! She's _crazy_! Stop her!" He wailed. I resisted the urge to snort.

"And who made her crazy, hm?" I lackadaisically replied, keeping up my act. She stomped towards me, but I lifted up the plate of apples and the glass of lemonade-tea. When her sharpened eyes zeroed in on it, she smiled.

"Ah, I forgot about that!" She gently took the plate out of my hands, completely opposite of the demon-woman from hell she was just seconds ago. "Arigato, Sasuke." She smiled, completely placated. I nodded quietly in response. She turned her head to look around me and shot Suigetsu a look of absolute death. I didn't have to look behind me to know that he flinched.

"Sleep with one eye open tonight, shannaro!" She spun on her hell, strode over to the door, and realized she couldn't open it with the plate and glass in-hand. Before she could turn around and ask, I was already at her side, opening it for her.

"I'll be down with lunch in a bit. I think my summons left a scroll or two upstairs for me to read." I lied calmly. She nodded with a smile.

"All right, take your time." She replied and started down the stairs. I shut the door and leaned against it, exhaling quietly in relief. We waited until we were sure she was far, _far_ from hearing distance…

When we felt her chakra somewhere in the center of the basement below, Suigetsu sagged against the countertop next to him. He looked about ten years older.

"That was close." Suigetsu breathed. "Like, my asshole literally got tight when she started to open the fridge… and when she almost killed me three times…"

"Close is an understatement." I agreed, and then smirked. "How's your face feel?" I snickered.

He rubbed his nose.

"If I wasn't partially made of water it'd be broken… You better be careful, man… she's a scary one to piss off."

"Hn." I started to collect the ceramic pieces of the mug Sakura broke over Suigetsu's head and said comrade started to straighten out the pillows on the couch and the few odds and ends that he and Sakura had disturbed during their brawl. When everything was clean again, we both slumped on the couch.

"I need a pill after that; I'm still not over it." Suigetsu commented. I snorted.

"I don't even know how we made that work; I can't believe she got so pissed that she forgot about the refrigerator afterwards."

I nodded.

"She's always had a temper." I explained. She really did, even when we were kids; though back then Naruto was the one she unleashed on. I remember the day that they blew up Orochimaru's compound and found me there. She ran out of the decimated hallway and Sai would have been a dead man if I hadn't said her name at the right moment. She had definitely changed from the little girl I knew and no doubt that was Tsunade's doing.

"…Right… I'm gonna go grab some water."

He hauled himself off the couch as I rested my head against it. I listened to him fill up a glass of water for himself like he said he would. When I heard him swallowing I decided to go upstairs. Once in my room I threw myself on my bed out of habit, and placed the back of my hand over my head. It was quiet save for the rain-snow beating against the glass and the ticking of the small clock on my nightstand. The silence wasn't good for my head. Normally, I appreciated it, but Sakura had made my life loud recently and I learned to assimilate to the change. Silence was okay in Konoha because the sun was always in the sky, but here, there was nothing but grey and rain, reminding me of the day I killed Itachi. It hurt; and I knew it would always hurt. I felt old during weather like this, but I wasn't the only one who had gone through enough shit to last me a few lifetimes. Naruto did too.

He told me once that his blood pressure rose so high when he found out I was labeled an international criminal that he actually passed out. He, an Uzumaki jinchuriki with enough stamina and health to outlast four ordinary people, passed out from stress. Sakura had suffered too. Shikamaru told me her motives that day she tried to assassinate me… She felt guilty for what she was putting Naruto through so she took it upon herself to kill me and put me out of my misery; even if she died in the process.

Naruto had shut down and Sakura had sent herself on a suicide mission and they found themselves in that position because of me. I shook my head. What's done is done; at least the three of us are alive and coping now; "healing well" according to Ino. I reached for a book I had been reading on fuuinjutsu that I found in the living room on that bookshelf everyone liked to ignore. I read for a while, until about twelve-fifteen or so when I shut the book and sat up slowly to go make the lunch I promised Sakura.

…Who knew being an anbu captain would require you to be a house maid on a mission…

I made my way downstairs to find Suigetsu snoring obnoxiously on the couch. I moved past him and began to make onigiri and miso soup. Twenty minutes later, I cleaned up while the food cooled a little and made a shadow clone to help me carry one of the trays down. Sakura eyed me strangely when she saw two of me coming down the stairs. She snorted and crossed her arms and legs femininely as she watched me place the trays on the table next to hers, far away enough not to disturb her work. My clone poofed away.

"It's weird seeing clones of you; that's kind of Naruto's thing." She commented. I smirked.

"I don't blame him; they're useful." I replied as I sat down and broke apart my chopsticks in front of my tray. She moved from her table to sit next to me at mine.

"Itadakimasu." I blessed quietly and she replied with the same. We began to eat.

"Anything new on the seal?" She asked almost hesitantly, as if she didn't want to approach the subject to annoy me with it.

"No. I've been reading up on fuuinjutsu in general instead. He had to have learned somewhere…" I replied with a shrug.

"Mn. These onigiri are good, Sasuke." She complemented.

I smiled to myself. They were straight from my mother's cookbook.

"My mother would have made them better; they're her recipe." I replied. She didn't say anything back and from the corner of my eye I could see her frowning at her plate. The air around us felt melancholy. I didn't like her being sad; especially not _for_ me. I was dealing with everything as best as I could and I was at a point where things were starting to get better.

"Don't feel sorry for me." I warned, half-heartedly. She snapped her head up. A flash of pink told me she was looking at me.

"Ah, gomen…" She murmured back, still uncertainly.

I shook my head in response.

"There are fonder memories that I remember nowadays anyway." I shrugged, waving the crappy mood off.

"Oh. Okay, that's good." She seemed relieved and I nodded more to myself than her.

When we were done, she returned to her work and I grabbed all the dishes and headed upstairs. I kicked Suigetsu's leg and woke him up.

"Mn-eh? _What_? I was having a great dream… Karin's nipples were all pink and shit, what the _fuck_ do you want?" He grouched groggily as he blinked the sleep away from his eyes.

I glared at him; I didn't want to think about Karin's nipples… They probably _were_ pink, but that was beside the point.

"Get up and help me with these." I ordered. He rolled his eyes but got up anyway and followed me to the sink. When we were done with that, we cursed at each other a little and I retreated towards the basement door, Suigetsu on my heels.

"Help Orochimaru if he needs anything in the meantime. Get the cake ready when Naruto gets here." I instructed so quietly only he would hear me.

"Hai, _Hai_ Jackass-_sama_. I'll do your bidding; would you like me to fold your fucking underwear while I'm at it?" He hissed back in a whisper.

"Yes, cocksucker, I like them folded in squares; don't fuck up." I responded coldly. Suigetsu turned around and pulled his asscheeks apart to fart at me, but I stuck my middle finger in the air and shut the door on his stink before it could reach me. I was halfway down the staircase before I heard Sakura calling my name.

"Sasuke…?"

"Aa?" I asked as I traversed the rest of the stairs and turned the corner at the landing.

"…You're good at math, ne?" She asked sounding distant; I knew she was in the middle of doing something.

"Aa." I replied as I watched her noting something in a notebook, a paper in hand. I took a seat next to her and watched her green eyes flick back and forth from the paper in her left hand and the notebook she was neatly writing on. Were her eyelashes always so thick?

"All right… Can you do these operations for me, please, while I work on this list of SNP's?"

SNP's? … Sure, whatever…Okay…

"Mn." I answered affirmatively and took the seat next to her. She stopped writing and smiled up at me. I don't think she realizes how sexy she looks like that.

"Arigato! That'll cut a lot of the work out for me." She replied in relief and turned back to her work. I sat down and started working with the numbers I saw; remembering all the methodology and rules that math required of a person. It was still hard for me and took me longer to do than it would take her, probably. Regardless, I was proud of myself every time was able to find a variable; math was satisfying in that respect. Eventually I checked over my half-completed work. Once I was confident in what I had done, I continued on to the rest of the page.

I lost track of time, but the next thing I knew, Suigetsu's chakra fluctuated four times from upstairs. I smirked to myself in satisfaction as I set down the pencil I was working with.

I knew _exactly_ what that meant…

-X-

Awww and this marks the end of the Sasuke arc! T_T Part of me is just like "write the rest of the fic in Sasuke's point of view! RAAAWR!" But then my voice of reason is like "no, that'll ruin the plans for the rest of the story baka!"

I'm working on another fic— a secret fic— side by side with this one. Once I have a good ten or so chapters ready, I'm going to post it up and let you guys know in one of these chapters, if you're interested in reading it. ;) This one will involve Itachi! Gotta love them Uchiha men. Sooooo sexy ;) Especially Itachi. My gawd he's like so hot.

Okay enough gushing over Itachi!

I've been having so much trouble sleeping. For the past few nights I keep waking up periodically through my sleep. _ It's so annoying because I don't remember my dreams too well that way! My life isn't normal without my crazy dreams =[. I feel like an incomplete person when I wake up and don't remember what my brain concocted for me while I was drifting through my imaginative subconscious.

Did any of you guys go drinking this New Year's? I certainly didn't. It's so stupid. Half of my friends are getting drunk and the other are making wedding plans. I'm just over here like *presses two fingers together* I just wanna finish schoooolll….. ;_ lol

Anyway as always, it was wonderful hearing from you guys. I may not respond personally author-to-review but each of you are so special to me! =] It warms my heart to hear good things from you guys. *hearts* *kisses* *hugs* *smoosh* Thanks again!

See ya' later space cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ®™ But if I did Itachi and Neji would still be alive. :p


	32. Birthday Girl

KISEKI

|32|

Man, I really miss Sasuke's POV. Funnier shit happens with him. In any case, big thanks to **Nile**! ^_^

-X-

I forgot how nice it was to work with Sasuke on something. That shouldn't be surprising considering the fact that our last mission was some BS C-rank when we were genin before he left… if you don't count the time we did laundry together.

I was comfortable working with Shizune, Tsunade-sama, and to an extent, Ino and Hinata on medical-related work, but sitting next to Sasuke was different. He doesn't know anything about medicine. _Nothing_. But it was still nice having him there. He was like silent support, but motivation as well. I was competitive, naturally, and having one of my boys looming over me and constantly reminding me of how I once was a failure was perfect for my will to complete this mission.

It was also nice hearing someone scribble and work as diligently as myself _without_ murmuring medical theories under their breath. Anyway, I was pleasantly focusing on rearranging Orochimaru's SNP's that he screwed with when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see Sasuke. His face was neutral as always, but his eyes were different. There was something light, kind of like excitement that he was repressing.

"Come upstairs with me." Blunt.

"Eh?"

I blinked and he was already walking away.

"O-oi! Hang on, why!? I'm in the middle of—

"Are you coming or not?" He stubbornly ran over my sentence like one of Naruto's bunshin-stampedes. He was nearing the landing of the stairs, but then he stopped, turned around and crossed his arms. He was annoyed. I narrowed my eyes as I stood up and walked towards him. No _way_ was I going to let him give me a silent attitude _and_ speak to me in cryptic Uchihanese. I'm Haruno Sakura; I don't take this kind of shit anymore.

"What's your deal today?" I made _sure _to half-snap. In any case, he _was_ acting weird before, too…a little. Suspicious, suspicious. Stupid Sasuke; he smirked that _damnable_ signature smirk of his. Was he _trying_ to give me a heart attack? Stupid, smug, strong, smart, good-looking man!

"You're _annoying_, Sa-ku-ra." He replied with our inside joke and started up the damn staircase. I snorted and shook my head but followed him upstairs at the quick pace he set, staring idly at the Uchiha fan on his back. Where was the fucking fire anyway? Something was _definitely_ up; but furthermore, why is he giving me this shit on my birthday? He opened the door, but I couldn't see shit because I was still partway down the stairs. It didn't take him long to disappear from my view.

As soon as I got to the top of the staircase—

"Forehead!"

"W-aah!"

Ino crashed into me, and if it weren't for Sasuke's hand quickly clasping around my forearm I'd have fallen backwards and possibly _died_. Regardless, I was all too happy and excited to see Ino, so I shook him off and hugged her back almost instantly.

"Ino-pig!" How the hell did she even get here!? This was a secret mission! I looked behind her and saw Kakashi-sensei, Sai, Karin and Juugo. I felt the tears coming to my eyes at the same time that my chest fluttered and ached in the way it usually does when something touching happens. They were here for my birthday... After four years they were _here_ for _me_.

Kakashi-sensei put one of his hands up in greeting and gave me that eye-crinkle smile unique only to him, Sai held three presents in his arms and was actually for-real smiling and Juugo held two presents in his one arm, and gave me a small smile that reached his eyes. Karin stood not too far from the boys, next to Naruto with a hand on her cocked hip and gave me a smile. Naruto grinned warmly, arms crossed proudly. I wiped my eyes as Ino pulled away. I didn't realize my hands were shaking; I _hate_ crying.

"Ino, your dumb hair got in my eyes." I joked to cover up my shame.

"Oh come _on_ Sakura, don't make me push you down those stairs." Ino retorted as she let me go. It was then that I noticed that the entire bottom floor of the house was decorated with colorful sparkly stars and flowers hanging from the ceiling, held together by what looked like duct tape. There were balloons placed on everything that had a corner to it and somehow, someone— probably Sai— used the cardboard stars and flowers to create a _huge_ origami paper crane to display at the center of the kitchen table, where there stood the _biggest_ cake _anyone_ has ever gotten me _ever_.

I gaped at it. It was _four_ tiers tall, white and decorated with kunai, sakura petals and— I snorted— stethoscopes. I started to laugh uncontrollably, and cry at the same time. _This_ is what Sasuke and Suigetsu were hiding from me earlier today. _This_ was what that kitchen incident earlier today was about. How did they even manage to _fit_ it in the fridge!? Tey probably had to take the shelves out and hide them somewhere. No _wonder_ everything looked so clean today…

"I hate, love, and can't believe you guys." I babbled and sniffled obnoxiously. They were making a mess of me, seriously. I was so fucking embarrassed, but happy at the same time. Someone had even taken the liberty of forcing Orochimaru out of his ugly chair so he wouldn't be here to ruin everything.

Karin rolled her eyes, sighed and grumbled about me being a baby but she still came over and hugged me, which made Ino squish me again, snickering as she shoved Karin aside with her ass, and because this was starting to turn into a group hug, Sai came to hug us and naturally, Naruto jumped in on the sappiness towards the end too. Someone dragged Kakashi sensei in and Juugo seemed to loom over us all as he smiled at the scene.

Where's Sasuke? He should be in on this too! I sensed him upstairs and frowned. Was he not going to join the celebration at all? What a negative-Nanako. But I guess the friendship/family thing really wasn't his cup of tea anyway.

"Sakura you're a hot mess, come and clean up while the boys light the candles, and for kami-sama's sake do you have something _not_ black(?); it's your birthday _not_ your funeral!" Ino bossed as usual.

"Damn, how does your boyfriend deal with you?" Karin insulted Ino.

"Wha— well _excuse me _at least I _have_ a boyfriend!" Ino shot back with an offended blush on her cheeks. I laughed at their banter as the group pulled away from the three of us to give them room to fight.

"Single and sexy, ne Sakura?" Karin put a hand on her hip in her signature bitchy pose and elbowed my arm as she turned to face a smirking Ino.

"Hey now, if you want to argue about sexy…" Ino began devilishly, but she was interrupted by Sasuke shunshinning downstairs. I think everyone turned to look at him, actually yeah, we all looked at him. For anbu he wasn't being really stealthy right now. He narrowed his eyes at us because the next thing we _all_ looked at was the gift wrapped in red and white in his hands. I don't think I've ever seen _the_ super-cool, super-suave Uchiha Sasuke blush so hard while looking so purely annoyed. I tried to hold in a laugh; he looked like a cat ready to hiss and claw at someone.

"Wh _at_?" He sounded offended as he looked at our group and we all started to laugh as he angrily turned his back to put his gift on the glass table in the living room. Juugo and Sai were the first to follow him to do the same.

"Happy birthday, Sakura-chan." Naruto smiled as he materialized his gift from a seal, grinned and walked over to put it next to Sasuke's. I gave him a grateful smile back, and I couldn't help the guilt that rose up into my chest. Naruto… I hurt him pretty bad, even _if_ Hinata was doing a great job of cleaning up my mess, and he was _still_ so sweet to me.

"Come on, what are you two waiting for, we have to go fix up!" Without much warning, Ino latched on and dragged me by my arm and Karin by the hood of her cloak.

"Don't pull so hard, you'll pop your stupid, big boobs!" Karin ground out as Ino dragged us up the stairs. I gaped at Karin; she really had some balls to say that to Konoha's self-proclaimed "most beautiful kunoichi in Konoha, second only to Tsunade-sama".

"I'm going to burn your hair for that one, Karin!" Ino evilly hissed back. I don't know where she got her strength from; she was still gunning up the stairs with us in tow. Once we were in the hallway she shoved us through the bathroom door—I don't even know how she knew which door the bathroom was— and went inside locking the door behind her. The bathroom wasn't cramped, thankfully, but it wasn't all that big, either and honestly, I felt like a trapped animal; I knew what was coming next and I _dreaded_ it.

"Kami-sama Sakura, you got so _pale_ and… _blah_. What did Tsunade-sama tell you about burning through your work without enough rest?" Ino chided like a big sister as she pushed me down onto the toilet seat and summoned a _huge_ rolling suitcase…of _death._ I stared wide-eyed at the thing while Karin coolly leaned against the wood-and-porcelain sink.

"Ino…_no_." I warned. I wasn't going to let her do this to me. I was _comfortable_ in my turtleneck dress… _without_ any heavy makeup on my face!

She looked confused.

" '_No'_? 'No' what?" She looked _seriously_ confused. I glared at her because she was probably just pretending to be innocent.

"No _that_." I pointed at the suitcase while Karin looked amused from her spot on the sink. I can't even fathom _why_ she looked so calm, considering the fact that Ino was going to make her a victim, too. Has she never been exposed to Ino's beauty-tornado?

Ino placed her hands on her hips, and her entire face morphed into the epitome of "stubborn".

"There are like…" She counted on her fingers as she looked up. "…_five_…_five, Sakura_… _Five_ of Konoha's hottest guys— and yes the ladies love the gentle big guy, too— downstairs… _all_ on that first floor. You're telling _me_, Yamanaka Ino… that _you_, Haruno Sakura, are _not_ going to fix yourself up for _your_ birthday party? No. Just no. That's not happening. I will hold every vital piece of information _and_ the way you just looked for Sasuke-kun downstairs against you, if you don't do this. I _will_ tell." She threatened.

Wha— how in fu— how did she even— She _noticed_!? Was I _that_ obvious!? I turned so fucking red… oh kami-sama, my face is so red; I know it. My fingers just went cold; probably to cycle all the fucking blood in my extremities to my face. Shit. I _had_ to fix this, somehow!

"It's _not_ like that. It's _so_ not like that!" I defended. "I wanted to ask him if he was hiding the cake from me earlier! That's _it_! You guys have the _wrong_ idea!" I tried to clarify, somehow, but I think even Inner refused to believe me. Ino raised an eyebrow. I looked to Karin for help. The Uzumaki girl just shrugged and looked like she had _no_ intention of supporting me, like at all. Traitor!

"Don't look at me, Haruno. He _is_ a beautiful disaster and that happens to be your type." She replied.

I dropped my mouth open. No, _no_.

"Let's get this straight… There is _nothing_ here—

I placed my hand over my chest and gave them the most serious Tsunade-sama-worthy expression I could manage.

—for Uchiha Sasuke." I said confidently. Yes. That's right. Nothing. Nothing there _at all_.

The two girls looked at each other.

"She's in denial." Ino said Karin and Karin _fucking_ nodded her head in complete agreement. They _both_ looked disappointed. "Seriously, you know what she told me? She said that they—

"_Ino_!" I warned, suppressing my hysteria. Shit just got _real_. No _way_ was the fact that Sasuke and I _slept in the same bed_ going to be repeated. _To anyone_. Ever! Okay, I believed her. She would totally tell _everyone, everything_. She looked over at me with a smug smirk.

"…Yyyes, Sakuraaa?" She asked slowly, _smugly_. I can't fucking believe this. She _actually_ just blackmailed me. I'm going to kill her when I get back to Konoha. I will find a way to destroy her… or cut her hair off in her sleep or something equal to death. I'll have all the kunoichi fashion magazine companies ban her from buying their stuff, somehow. There _will_ be revenge.

"Fine…. Fine…. Okay; you win this round. You can do whatever; just keep your mouth shut." I gave up completely; hands in the air in surrender… But no, it wasn't over, because Karin evilly smirked at me.

"Now I want to know…" She said and looked over at Ino curiously. I gave Ino a hard look. She rolled her eyes, fed up with my shit. But I _deserved_ my privacy!

"What, Sakura? What's it matter, seriously."

"No." I warned. "I agreed to this. So, no. You can't say anything; you better not!" I warned.

Ino rolled her eyes and Karin's pink-red eyebrow shot up in curiosity because now, whatever Ino was holding back made it seem like Sasuke and I had some scandalous friends-with-benefits thing going on which was _so_ not true!

"Sakura lost her key… and because she's paranoid and has a shinobi-proof window _and_ lock she had to stay at Sasuke's apartment for a week. A whole _week_." Ino smirked, lying flawlessly and leaving the whole "sleeping in bed together" part completely out.

Thank kami-sama that's all she said; that seriously shaved about two years off of my life! That was _so_ close! My heart rate noticeably slowed down but it wasn't over yet.

Karin gaped at me.

"How did _that_ happen?" She asked.

"Oh they went to a club and got drunk together." Ino casually supplied with a wave of her hand as Karin's eyes nearly popped out of her head, since Sasuke is _not_ the type to go out and have fun; like at all. I'd be surprised too if you told me Sasuke went to a _club_ of all places, and got drunk with a girl I knew. If I wasn't there myself I wouldn't believe it even _if_ I was promised the daimyo's entire treasury.

"Ino!" I grabbed the roll of toilet paper off of the sink next to me and chucked it at her as hard as I could. She snickered and dodged it and it hit the stupid blue tiles behind her.

"Are we talking about the same Sasuke?" Karin asked. "Last I heard, he was going around stabbing people to death and sealing crazy women into the moon." She sniffed. Ino snorted.

"That's the same Sasuke. You see, I'm so awesome, I can rehabilitate _anyone_. How do you guys like my work?" Ino fanned her own flames and I think we both glared at her in unison.

"I'm going to kill you someday, Ino. Just you wait." I threatened her. I wasn't going to tell her about my cut-her-hair-off plan, or my banned-from-all-her-favorite-magazines plan; that would be a secret until I actually did it.

"I'd believe you if I didn't know that you love me too much. Now let's get started already; we wasted like ten minutes on complete bullshit."

I rolled my eyes as she unzipped the stupid rolly-case and started unsealing practically an _entire salon_ from so many scrolls and sealing papers that even Ten-Ten would have been surprised.

She _actually_ brought me clothes. Yes, clothes; an entire outfit. She gifted me with a soft, loose-but-tight-in-the-right-places red, strapped dress that criss-crossed in the back, a black, cropped blazer with white inner-sleeves and trim, and a really, _really _nice—most likely expensive—pair of black wrap-around-the-ankle-open-toe-criss-crossing heels.

My eyes popped out of my head. Just _how_ much money was all of this!? I looked up at her and she just grinned. Damn clan heads and their treasuries. If she and Sasuke didn't have different kekkei-genkai you would think they were from the same clan based off of how much money they spent. If I didn't have the money or necessity for fineries I didn't buy anything. That's it. That technique has helped me keep my expenses down and my bank account healthy since I started earning money as a genin. Keep the bills to the bare minimum, buy clothes only when yours wear out, and most importantly, don't be a prim bitch all the time. Kunoichi don't need mani-pedi's every week.

"Ino… what did I tell you about spending hoards of money on me?…" I frowned and crossed my arms from my spot on the toilet seat.

"Tch, probably the same thing you told Sas-ke-kun!" She shook her finger for each syllable of his name and grinned. When I glared at her, she stuck her tongue out. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything else to throw at her. Would she never stop?

Karin snickered from her place against the sink.

"Don't laugh at her, Karin. You're next." Something evil flashed in Ino's eyes but it didn't affect Karin.

"I'm not changing clothes." Karin stated.

Of course, Ino ignored her.

"Shut up and get into this." Ino summoned a navy mini skirt, a pale-almost-white-but-still-pink blouse and velvety black pumps. Karin glared and crossed her arms.

"I'm not wearing that." She repeated. I commended her for her valiant efforts.

"Yes, you are." Ino looked dead serious.

"_No_ I'm not." Karin spoke back; the epitome of calm and collected.

The stare-down commenced and I could _feel_ Ino's aggravation rising. … Can someone hand me some dango? This is about to turn into an interesting show.

"Yes. You are."

"No. I'm not."

"Yes."

"_No_."

Karin was starting to get aggravated too. This is getting good…

Ino rolled her eyes and resorted to her next tactic: convincing.

"Come on, Sakura managed to heal all the bite marks; what are you afraid of showing?" Oooh! Ino aimed right below the belt!

"It's not _what_ I'm afraid of showing, it's _who_ I'm afraid will see!" Karin growled back, motioning with an open palm to the wall in the general direction where the living room was below us. Ino stared blankly at her.

"Who will see? You like Juugo or something?" Ino was genuinely confused and that's when it hit me…

… Where did Sui—

"Daaaaaamn Karin, that's for _you_!?"

Fuck.

Ino shrieked at the voice coming from behind her, spun around and stared wide-eyed at the watery-blob that started to form into Suigetsu.

"Who-who _are_ you!? How did you even—

While Ino was sputtering I remembered that she had never actually met Suigetsu, not even on the battlefield during the war. No wonder she was so freaked out. She didn't sense him and didn't expect him to infiltrate the bathroom she thought she had completely covered security-wise. Suigetsu gave her a shark-toothed grin.

"S_ui_getsuuu…" Karin growled, an unholy glare on her face. "…You have _three_ seconds to leave."

"Aw, come on, Karin; it's been so lon—

"ONE."

"You won't even say hell—

"TWO."

"Kari—

"THREE!"

He dissipated into water just as she lunged at him, snickered and then slinked into the vent again.

"See you downstairs, sexy!" His voice rung through the metal vent in the ceiling and into the bathroom. Ino was still gaping at the vent seconds after he left.

"…Was he _always_ able to do that?" She asked incredulously. Karin crossed her arms and leaned against the tiled wall next to the shower.

"He's been doing that since the day I met him; fucking ADD-boner _hentai_." She muttered, clearly still mad about him showing up.

Ino and I both snorted, tried to hold in our laughter and failed. Karin looked at us as with an annoyed look on her face.

"What?" She demanded. Ino calmed down first while I still snickered.

"Only you can come up with insults like _that_. ADD-boner?"

Karin frowned. "Well yeah, if it has a vagina and can walk he'll get hard for it."

I gaped. _Damn_ I forgot how frank Karin could be. She might be my new hero. Ino laughed again.

"I can see why you wouldn't want to get all dressed up, then. Karin nodded, and then smirked. Ino smirked back and I must have shrunk two sizes on my seat. This was _not_ going to be good; they just remembered that I was still in the bathroom with them. If I wasn't so tired I would have used Suigetsu's distraction to escape.

"Oi…" Karin stated dangerously.

"…Sakuraaaaa…" Ino cooed, finishing Karin's statement.

"What! No! If you guys don't have to dress up, neither do I! I'm comfortable with what I have on!" I crossed my arms and put my big-girl panties on. I wasn't going to be the only one dressed up; fuck that!

"Nnnnnope! You have to get dressed. It's _your_ birthday… _You're_ the star." Ino smirked like the devil-woman she is... "Besides, _Sasuke-kun_ will defend your honor so you won't have to worry about that water-guy." She finished her sentence in a wistful tone and I seriously couldn't believe her… she _really_ won't let this shit go… I gave her a neutral look; this wasn't worth getting angry over. Sasuke wouldn't defend me anyway, he knows I can defend myself, but Ino wasn't here to see me making Suigetsu one with the carpet earlier today so I can't really blame her for her skewed views of my friendship with Sasuke. To put it simply; he's not my hero and he's not my cheesy, sharingan-eyed knight in shining Uchiha armor.

"Riiiight. You have all of your shit backwards, Ino-pig. Sasuke isn't my hero. I can defend myself; thankyouverymuch." I corrected her in a bored tone. She sighed and rolled her eyes _finally_ dropping her tirade.

"You don't let me have any fun anymore, forehead."

I smirked victoriously. At least I won that round.

"Sucks for you, na?" I crooned back smugly, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to humor her and dress me up. "You can play dress-up with me if you want; just don't overdo it. It's _my_ birthday; so _my_ rules, okay?"

Her smile could have competed with Naruto's at that comment.

-X-

About twenty minutes later, I was dressed up in that outfit that I realized a little too late showed _way_ too much of my legs, and my hair was done up in some wavy, half-up-half-down-somehow-braided-as-well hairdo. Ino had some magic hands when it came to hair, seriously. I was just putting on the heels, when Ino started to seal everything up again. Thankfully, she hadn't owned my face in makeup. She accentuated my eyes with a little bit of mascara and a teeny tiny bit of brown eyeliner, holding to the compromise we made.

She also flat ironed the cowlicks on the side of Karin's head to "make her look nice for the pictures". Karin looked _gorgeous_ with that adjustment; it really took the edge out of her demeanor and honestly, she looked like she could play the part of some exotic hime if she had to. After the heels were secured on my feet, my blonde best friend and worst enemy handed me a sealing paper with my previous clothes in it and dragged us all out of the bathroom as I shoved it into the pocket of my blazer.

You know, I kind of like blazers; my other one helped me protect Sasuke's spare key from getting lost while duping Suchiru. I smirked to myself; that was a fun little excursion. We arrived downstairs and of course Suigetsu was the first to open his loud mouth.

"Aw, come on, Karin;can't a guy get a _little _bit of a show for once?" He was obviously joking, but Karin gave him a flat look in response.

"Shut up, hentai." She drawled and walked over to the kitchen table where everyone else was. I snickered, but I wasn't safe from Suigetsu's loud mouth; oh no. You would think he had enough last time I beat the shit out of him… _nope_.

"Nice legs, Pink." I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to react this time. Besides, someone had already managed to bruise his face, probably for the shit he pulled upstairs.

"Itai!" I heard a crackle of electricity and Kakashi-sensei shot me an innocent smile from his place directly to the right of my cake at the head of the kitchen table. I noticed a raiton-senbon sticking out of Suigetsu's neck. I smirked smugly at him; 'serves him right.

"Long time no see, Sakura." Kakashi-sensei joked as he pocketed his coveted porn. Had Ino _really_ taken so long upstairs with us?

"Aa, it _has_ been a while. How's Kurenai by the way…?" Sasuke did _not_ sound pleased from his side of the table, directly opposite of Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei gave him a nervous laugh and scratched his jaw beneath his ever-present mask.

"Well, she's great, actually." He responded, hoping Sasuke would drop whatever accusation he was making.

"I bet she is…" Sasuke drawled darkly. "Were you vacationing somewhere with her?" He asked, his tone lightening _just_ a smidge, as if to dare sensei to lie to him. I had no idea what was going on, but Kakashi-sensei was really in for it. Sasuke wasn't going to let this one go.

**Ya-tta Sasuke-kun! Grill him!**

I almost snorted to myself. Whatever sensei had coming to him would probably be well-deserved.

"Eh, no? Why do you ask?" He replied.

Sasuke glared so hard I swear I thought I saw the sharingan for a second.

"Because you were _nowhere to be found_." There seemed to be another part to that statement that he was holding back behind a tight jaw. Whatever the other half of that sentence was, Kakashi-sensei understood it.

"A~ww… My cute student has missed me… how touching, Sasuke." Sensei sarcastically placed a hand on his heart and Sasuke looked like he wanted to _fry_ him with his eyes, which was totally possible in reality so I had no idea why sensei would even provoke him to that extent.

"Oh look! Sai needs help with the yakitori!" Kakashi-sensei was out of his seat and idling next to Sai across the kitchen in half a second, and Naruto had crashed into the chair Kakashi had _just _vacated only a moment ago; always _right on time_. I smiled from my place next to the kitchen table.

"Yo, teme! This cake is _awesome_ where'd you get it?" Naruto grinned, successfully distracting Sasuke.

"A few towns away." Sasuke smirked and crossed his arms "They actually knew what a kunai was, so I trusted them with the design." Naruto laughed and so did I. The stethoscopes were _his_ idea!? I couldn't stop laughing. _Stethoscopes_!? He couldn't think of anything else medically related aside from _stethoscopes_!? Sasuke and Naruto turned to me, and even Naruto was confused as to what was going on in my head.

"What?" Sasuke was genuinely confused.

"St—

I was laughing too hard.

"Stethoscopes!?"

I laughed more. I could see him glaring at me through the tears in my eyes.

"_What_." As if he were asking, "what's wrong with that?"

"N-Nothing…" I finally calmed down. "Why not a caduceus?" I asked, trying to wipe my eyes without messing my makeup up.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Eh?" Naruto asked. "What's that?"

I took my place at the head of the table; Sasuke to my left, Naruto to my right.

"You know, the winged cross with the two snakes?" I asked with a frown. They seriously didn't know. I saw their eyes meet across the table; each looking to the other for help. If anything, their teamwork had only gotten better. Sasuke and Naruto were _always_ able to just read each other. It always made me feel left out. I shook my head and smiled.

"Nevermind. It's perfect the way it is."

For some reason Sasuke looked destroyed for half a second and Naruto started laughing. Sasuke turned to him and flared poisonously. I don't get what I said wrong.

"What?" I asked, totally clueless.

"Fuck you, usuratonkachi." Sasuke hissed like an angry cat. Naruto snorted in an effort to control his laugher, but failed and kept laughing.

"Oh, no, teme… you didn't get a perfect score Your kunai hit .2 milimeters off the center!" Naruto flailed his hands around and made it seem like such a big deal. It dawned on me, that Sasuke probably had wracked his brains trying to find _something _medicine related to put on my cake. I gaped at Naruto. How _could_ he laugh at Sasuke when he _really_ tried.

"What would _you_ have put on it, _dickless_?" Sai jumped in to help Sasuke out and Sasuke smirked smugly. Now, I was entertained.

"Well— uh—

"_Exactly_." Sasuke finalized and I chuckled.

"I really do appreciate all of this, though. I didn't even expect a 'happy birthday'… thanks guys." I said meaningfully, and the three of them turned and actually _smiled_.

Everyone was now in place after milling about for another second. After Sasuke, Ino was seated and next to her, Juugo, and next to him, Suigetsu. Sai sat himself down next to Naruto, and next to him sat Kakashi across from Juugo, and Karin, across from Suigetsu.

"Ha~ppy birth~day— _ow! _What the _hell_ Sai!" Naruto started to sing to me, but Sai had hurt _some _part of his body under the table to stop him. Naruto pouted at him with big, watery, sad eyes.

"Why would you pinch me, Sai? Are you trying to call me fat?" He cried.

Karin snorted and Naruto had a gleam in his eye behind the mock-tortured expression; he wasn't going to let the joke die just yet.

"_Inooo_, you have to help me so I can look pretty for Sasuke-teme!"

Sasuke's jaw dropped; he wasn't prepared to be sucked into the joke.

Ino shook her head, and in a serious tone, "I'm sorry Naruto, I'm afraid it's hopeless." She was deathly serious but I didn't miss the teasing sparkle in her eyes.

Naruto comically clapped a hand over his heart and threw his head back.

"_Oh! _You wound me, Ino!" He replied melodramatically.

"Nothing hurts more than an insult from a lover; shame on you, Sasuke, I thought I taught you better." Kakashi-sensei shook his head in believable disappointment and I laughed at the way Sasuke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. I snickered and Sasuke glared at me.

"Traitor-san is probably too good for you anyway, panty-waste." Sai insulted with a smile.

"O-oi! You son of a _bitch_—

Suigetsu laughed loudly and Naruto threw a crumpled, red napkin at his face. I don't think I've ever seen Naruto glare so hard in my life.

"Oh man, '_panty-waste_'? That's better than 'dickless'! This guy's awesome!" Suigetsu looked genuinely entertained, but he didn't know Sai, and he didn't know what was coming his way…

Sorry Suigetsu, this one's going to hurt.

Sai smiled and turned his attention to Suigetsu.

"Sorry; I like women, fish-pussy-san."

Suigetsu gaped at Sai. The entire table was quiet. Even Sasuke looked ready to do damage control.

"Oi! I'm not gay, asshole!" Suigetsu let the other colorful insult slide, offended more that Sai would presume he's gay.

Sai tapped his chin and looked thoughtful.

"According to all of the KPA-sanctioned books on mental health, throwing suggestive phrases at women so excessively denotes that you, in fact, _are_ a homosexual and are simply denying the truth out of fear of being ostracized." Sai explained in a logical tone. "You can tell us; we're all friends here." He offered in the only fake-friendly way that Sai could. Ino clapped a hand over her mouth as Suigetsu gaped at Sai, _again_ unable to shoot anything back at him. Besides, what proof _did_ he have? Maybe Sai was right… were we going to have a confession today at my table?

"I'm addicted to sex you _fucking dickface_; I'm not _gay_ I just like to _fuck_!" Suigetsu finally defended himself with a heavy blush on his cheeks, and the room grew eerily silent because we _all_ knew by his tone that that was honest. Since Ino was next to Juugo, she covered his ears and glared at Sai and Suigetsu.

"My goodness you both have a bad mouths. There are _virgin ears_ at this table!" She joked, completely shattering the tension in the room and even Juugo chuckled at his own expense, a light blush on his cheeks.

"Well, the secret's finally out… no one had _any_ idea Suigetsu, we swear." Karin drawled sarcastically with a wave of her hand.

Suigetsu blushed harder.

"Shut _up_ Karin!" He glared at her and she snorted.

"Right, right. By the way, how does that senbon feel?" She chirped with a smirk, pointing at the senbon still stuck and quietly crackling in his shoulder blade. Suigetsu went to stand up and argue with her to her face but Juugo placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder to calm him down. Suigetsu frowned, but sat down probably out of respect for the fact that Juugo didn't like violence.

"This isn't over." He still threatened Karin and Sai and like the super-confident-bitch Karin was good at being, she raised an elegant brow.

"Right, if you're not drooling all over Sakura later tonight." She sniffed and I gave her a narrow-eyed look. She shrugged at me and Suigetsu laughed.

"Mn, maybe, na?"

Sasuke and I somehow simultaneously turned our eyes to the melting candles. I looked up and found him looking at me too.

"Make a wish and blow." He spoke. Naruto snickered.

"Is that what you say to all the— _Itai! Fuck, teme!_" I heard Naruto's knee hit the underside of the table and knew that Sasuke had kicked his shin.

"Fuck you." Sasuke mouthed to Naruto.

With tears in the corner of his eyes and a glare, Naruto stuck his tongue out and pulled down his eyelid.

I started to laugh because I loved my boys, even after all the pain and distance.

I took a big breath to blow out all of the twenty-two candles on the cake.

"No fuuton-jutsu if you have any!" Suigetsu warned and a few people chuckled as I smiled.

_I wish I could have more days like this… _

-X-


	33. Sakura's Gifts

KISEKI

|33|

*Sniffle* thank you all so much for your encouragement and reviews! I love you guys all, like ferserious. :p Anyway, on to Sasuke's POV! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I love Sasuke. Like seriously, anyone else want him as a boyfriend? I might trade mine in for him hahahahaha jk jk jk. But seriously, if you could pick _any_ Uchiha to be with for the rest of your life which one would it be?

_ I might go for Itachi or Shisui… I mean don't get me wrong, Sasuke's hot, he has that whole Madara-esque thing going on in chapter 700 but Itachi ftw bruh.

Also, it's like the third week, last weekend before school starts *sad face* and I'm so disappointed that NO ONE HAS BEEN UPDATING. You would think people would have time to post their stuff but I guess not _ Uuuuuuugh. Anyway, posting new chapters is my way to defy this bullshit. Lol

Enjoy!

-X-

Naruto and I stopped glaring at each other to watch Sakura blow her candles out with a warm smile. Everyone else stopped their fighting and started to clap. She blushed, but stood up and grabbed the cake spatula off of the stack of red paper plates Sai had shown up with, though I suspected the decorations were mostly Ino's idea. I can't tell if Sai _knows_ that he's being Ino's bitch, or if he does it on purpose for the sex…

Either way it doesn't matter to me.

"Hold on, Hold on." Kakashi stood from his seat and clapped his hands twice to gain everyone's attention. I gave him a deflated look; he'd never change. Even when he was saying something enthusiastic he still drawled it out in a bored tone. Sakura paused half a centimeter away from digging the cake spatula into her cake.

I felt stupid again as my eyes caught the stethoscopes on the cake…

But what the fuck would you have put on it!? I completely forgot about the caduceus; it's not like I ever cared to pay attention to one, either, or really knew what it was called! All of the medics I'd been around in my youth weren't honorable enough to display it, either. …Both Kabuto and Orochimaru were unethical as fuck.

I shook my head as Kakashi's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"We should eat the food first." He stated plainly... _so fucking plainly_. But he was right. Dinner was supposed to come before sweets, not that I liked sweets, my nose wrinkled at the fucking thought of putting that sugary shit into my mouth.

"Oh! I completely forgot! You're right." I looked over and watched as Sakura put down the cake spatula.

"Ah, let me help you move the cake Sakura-ch—

She waved Naruto off and used the tips of her fingers to delicately apply the right amount of force required to move the cake in its entirety without damaging it by its base. We all watched as the four-tier cake moved perfectly to the center of the wooden table… that I was sure would be owned in shit by the end of tonight.

Ino, Sai and Kakashi got up and went over to the counter to grab the food they had brought with them. I'm surprised it all stayed hot for the entire journey here. Fuuinjutsu was one hell of an art.

"Ah, since we're eating, I suppose now is a good time…" Sai murmured as he put down the yakitori and onigiri.

"Eh?" Sakura looked at him curiously, and he gave her a secretive smile in return as he unraveled a scroll. Even I got curious. We all watched as he unsealed…

…are you fucking kidding me?

…

_Twenty…_yes, _twenty cases of alcohol_ just popped out of that scroll. I'm not shitting you; I counted. There's more fucking alcohol than food on this table and Sakura stared at it all, wide-eyed.

"Tsunade-sama said it came right from the Crescent Moon Island and that it should be enough for all of us." Sai was grinning as he explained.

Speaking of Sai, I had never seen him piss drunk.

And on that note, I don't think alcohol is a good thing for Juugo. I shot my eyes to him, and found him looking at me with a small smile. He wouldn't be drinking tonight. I nodded and he nodded back.

"FUCK YESSS!" Suigetsu shot up out of his seat. I rolled my eyes… the next thing he's going to ask for—

"Now all I need is a huge-ass bottle of water and I'm _good_!"

—is water, of fucking course.

Karin rolled her eyes and I decided I would let her put him in his place. I wasn't in the mood for comebacks tonight.

"Good, we can just periodically dump you out in the rain, then." Karin shot back. Suigetsu glared at her.

"How about I dump _you_ in the rain instead— _in your fucking panties_!" He yelled back. Sai interjected to defend Karin, also to probably have some fun pissing Suigetsu off.

"I wonder if you'd smell more like a fish or a dirty pussy out in the rain…" Sai put his hand on his chin in feigned curiosity and I swear I thought I saw Suigetsu's jaw drop so far it dislocated. Naruto hollered in laughter and I'm pretty sure I saw Kakashi snicker behind his porn. I snickered and Sakura seemed surprised that Sai was going so hard tonight.

"You _cock-sucking dickhole_!" Suigetsu shouted, red-faced. This party was going to be fucking loud tonight.

"A dickhole can't suck cock. Is it possible for your IQ to be lower? How do you function as a shinobi?" Sai shot back, completely unperturbed. I think his lack of care pissed Suigetsu off more.

Karin looked at Sai like he was her idol. His insults definitely had more sting than hers; she could learn a thing or two from him if she wanted some material to shut Suigetsu up with.

"I'm going to fucking kill you." Suigetsu deadpanned, a blush on his cheeks, fists shaking.

"I doubt it." Sai replied. He spoke like Suigetsu wasn't worth it. But in all honesty, they would probably be pretty well-matched in a spar.

"Let's eat!" Ino interrupted to cool the fire. "You guys can finish your macho-fight later!"

With that, she passed out the plates and everyone started to load them up with food. Sai and Suigetsu still shot lightning at each other with their eyes… you would think _they_ were the ones capable of raitonjutsu. Speaking of which, I ignored the plate Naruto tried to shove into my hands and approached Suigetsu as he was demolishing most of the steak barbeque, probably from the Akimichi barbeque restaurant.

"Suigetsu." I commanded.

"Eh? Sasuke?" He turned around and I noticed that the senbon had moved down to his chest. Wasn't it in his neck in the beginning? His body was probably slowly trying to get rid of it. I didn't bother explaining myself as I neutralized the lightning from the senbon and carefully pulled it out.

"Eh? You're in a good mood, Sasuke. Did you get laid while out this morning?" He smirked.

Someone whistled suggestively, probably Kakashi, and I glowered, but then I smirked.

"If I did I'd have gotten more ass in a day than you could in a year." I smugly replied and his purple eyes widened. He punched my shoulder, enough to rattle me.

"What's with everyone and fucking with me today!? Didn't Pink beat me up enough this morning!?"

"Eh? You beat up Suigetsu?"

I turned my head towards Karin and found her munching on a riceball next to Naruto, Sakura, and Juugo, looking at Sakura with wide, but grinning eyes. Sakura blushed and laughed prettily into her hand, balancing the onigiri on her plate in the other.

"Actually, yeah, I did. I kinda feel bad though; he only let me to protect the cake in the fridge. Gomen, Suigetsu." She apologized sincerely.

Suigetsu grinned back at her.

"It's all right, trust me it wasn't _that_ bad." How surprising, for once something stupid didn't come out of his mouth.

He winked at her and she glared at him. He ruined the genuine moment; as usual.

He turned his back to the tongue Sakura was stuck out at him and continued loading his plate with food. I grabbed a plate and placed a couple of yakitori on it and one onigiri. I stood next to Naruto, who was busy slurping on _a bowl of fucking ramen_. He _would_. Only Naruto would, but in all honesty I wouldn't have it any other way.

Someone, somewhere turned music on, and I realized that Ino had brought some sort of radio, only there was no way in hell that we'd get any reception here out in the middle of nowhere. I gazed at the shiny black device on the glass table in the living room curiously as it played music as if to defy me.

"It plays something called CD's. You record a song onto the CD and then stick it into that and it plays it." Sakura explained, as she caught me staring at it. I turned to look at her and nodded, appreciative of the explanation. Some upbeat song was playing and the girls squealed about that stupid band— Shounen Ninja— or whatever it was. Sakura ditched me in favor of relocating to Karin and Ino.

"Ah! Ryuu-sama's voice is so sexy!" Ino squealed along with a blushing Karin.

"Actually, of them all, don't you think that quiet guy is kinda hot?" Karin asked Ino, a finger on her chin; food abandoned on her plate for the moment.

"Eh? You mean Sho!? Yeah, I guess I can see it." Ino smirked. "Ne, Karin, are redheads your type…?" Ino had her sly smirk on and everyone in our circle knew Karin was doomed as Ino led her away to get more food.

Sakura shook her head.

"Poor Karin." She mumbled and Naruto heard her, as he gravitated towards her.

"Aw, come on, Sakura-chan; Karin can take care of herself." He reassured with a smile.

Sakura seemed to ponder on that, then she smiled back.

"You know what, you're right, Naruto…" Her expression turned dark just then and I knew she was pissed about something. "…She managed to escape Ino's beauty-tornado in the bathroom, _no thanks to Suigetsu who helped make that happen!_" She glowered and turned her glare on Suigetsu, who was in the middle of chewing on a stick of yakitori, reading Kakashi's porn over his shoulder. Suigetsu swallowed and opened his mouth to say something, but Kakashi stuffed an onigiri into it with his free hand, causing him to choke. He coughed violently and Sakura cackled shamelessly at his misfortune.

Speaking of the beauty-tornado and Sakura's resulting outfit… her legs were _not_ helping my blood pressure. Red looked good on her… _really_ good. I couldn't really tell what Ino did, but for some reason her eyes seemed even brighter than before. The green _really_ stuck out against her hair and skin. I _forced_ myself to look down at my food. She was fucking with my head again… both fucking heads. I turned a glare onto Ino who was laughing about something with Karin as they ate. She probably did this shit on purpose. Alcohol, and a good-looking Sakura were _not_ a good combination for my willpower and she fucking _knew _it.

I should cut her hair off in her sleep for this.

"When is she going to let him put it in her other hole?" Sai asked nonchalantly, now also reading over Kakashi's shoulder and munching on a barbequed prime rib. I'm surprised Kakashi doesn't have barbeque sauce in his hair with Suigetsu eating like that behind and above him.

"Patience; patience." He replied and turned a page.

I wrinkled my nose. Anal sex? There'd better be condoms involved with that.

"You think she'd let him do it without one on?"

Suigetsu… you dirty motherfucker. I'll have to read the series at a later date, though; I can't form a proper opinion without really knowing what they're talking about. If there's one thing I don't do, it's talking out of my ass on a subject I don't know enough about.

I turned back to find Sakura questioning Juugo about his condition.

"The medicine has the same effects? Your body isn't getting used to it?" She asked as she looked up at him. Juugo's orange eyes were warm as they looked down at her. He nodded.

"Hai, everything is going well. It's given me much more confidence in leaving my room… though I still fear I might have a breakthrough episode." He frowned.

It fucking hit me like a ton of bricks.

_Juugo is the source of the cursed-seal_.

_Juugo _was there when Orochimaru_ made _the cursed-seal.

I _have_ to get Sakura alone for a moment. Just a fucking moment. When were they all going to leave!? Tomorrow? I needed to get her before she started drinking. My eyes wandered over to the alcohol on the table next to her cake…

I have no doubt in my mind that she could tank half of that shit herself… I _have_ to get her alone without looking suspicious.

A plan struck me, and I rolled with it. I would just have to get her to make eye contact with me. Just for a second. A second is all I need.

I watched her carefully, very carefully.

"Well, that's why you have to take the medicine at the same times every day and night. It works so long as you keep the same medication levels in your blood at all times, so you should be fine as long as you don't forget." She explained and grinned. It really did make her happy to help people; how did she manage assassinations in anbu again?

Juugo smiled.

"There's this bluebird I made friends with, he's actually on top of the cabinet right now… he reminds me just in case I forget to take them or lose track of time." Juugo explained and they all turned their eyes towards the cabinet where they saw a flash of blue, true to Juugo's words.

Well…

all of them except Sakura, who always had the uncanny ability to sense when I was looking at her. I caught her eyes with mine and activated the mangekyou with just a tiny, undetectable pulse of energy. Juugo noticed, and I'm sure Naruto did too. He moved closer to block my face from the rest of the room. Ino, Sai, and Suigetsu didn't need to know about our plans to fuck Orochimaru over should he do anything unsanctioned by Sakura's moral standards.

Within seconds, Sakura was in my world and we were sharing minds. She looked around left and right, alarmed for only a minute, until she saw the red sky and black ground.

"Sasuke?" She asked, and I materialized myself in front of her.

"Don't panic and don't push me out. We overlooked something important." I explained.

"Eh, what do you mean?" She blinked, waiting for me to explain.

"Juugo is the source of the cursed-seal." I revealed flatly. She would get the rest.

And on that note, her entire expression changed; it was like a light turned on in her eyes.

"You're right! Worst case scenario, if the seal from Uzushio doesn't work, then we still have him and any information that he may have on it!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Thanks, Sasuke." She smiled at me and I nodded.

"Don't tip over when I let us out of here. Your body will feel limp after this and only a second has passed in reality. I don't want the others who aren't in on it to know."

She waved me off.

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

And we were back in reality just like that. Juugo steadied Sakura with her hand, smiling at her surprised expression and Naruto turned back around _right_ after I drained the chakra from my eyes, effortlessly sliding from being surprised at the bird himself, to talking to Juugo about it.

"Does he have a name?" Naruto grinned, keeping up the act. Juugo shrugged.

"If he does he hasn't told me yet." He simply replied in his usual quiet tone.

Sakura was smiling like nothing happened. No one in the room was aware that I had just cast a genjutsu, aside from our group and maybe Karin across the room and thanks to Naruto nobody saw my eyes change.

Naruto gave Sakura and I a knowing smile and a grateful nod to Juugo.

"I'm going to go break up that almost-fight. _See you later, guys_."

He winked and left to go drag Sai and Suigetsu apart, since they were starting to snip at each other again. We all caught the double meaning in his words, though. He was going to have us all talk about it later. Sakura grinned at me and then at Juugo, who smiled back at her.

"I promise when we get back to Konoha, I'll run some more tests and help alter your blood. Just because I've been away doesn't mean I haven't been studying the results of all the other tests we took." She spoke promisingly to Juugo who blushed when she reassuring touched his shoulder that was easily five times the size of her small hand.

The one thing Juugo wasn't used to was kindness, especially from a doctor. I can imagine he must've been terrified sitting in the patient's room at the hospital, waiting for Sakura to do whatever she had to do.

What's even more depressing, however, is that he's gentle to the point that even if Sakura wanted to fuck him up like Orochimaru did, he'd probably let her, even more so, since she looks harmless; it's the pink hair and tiny build. He wouldn't morally be able to defend himself against her. I genuinely hoped Sakura could fix whatever was wrong with him.

"Oi! Forehead!" Ino waved from her spot next to Sai near Kakashi and his smut. Naruto looked over, holding Suigetsu back by his arms. I smirked. Suigetsu obviously had enough of Sai's shit.

"What, pig!?" Sakura called back affectionately, a smile on her face. I felt weird that it made me happy that she was happy. I usually didn't give a shit what anyone else felt; happiness or not, but her smiles genuinely made me warm; a scary revelation considering she could really fuck me up if she rejects me.

Regardless, tonight her smile was unlike any other I've seen on her. Naruto was a genius; he always seemed to know how to make everyone happy; always seemed to know exactly what it took to fix whatever shit someone was going through. I narrowly envied him for it, but I had grown to accept myself; shitty social skills and all. It wasn't uncommon in shinobi who had gone through traumatic events, such as myself, Kakashi, and Sai, so I felt less bad knowing I wasn't the only one. Our similarities in that aspect was probably the reason why we were all able to get along aside from being on team seven.

"Come cut your cake; it's desert time and we should save the rest of the food for when we're all blasted!" Ino ordered with a laugh. Sakura walked over to Ino and smirked as she threw her plate out into the trash on her way there.

"Don't throw up all over the carpet, now." Sakura warned jokingly as she grabbed the cake spatula and turned it on its side to cut the cake with the sharp edge. I was amazed at her precision in cutting the slices evenly, and neatly, but then again should I really be surprised? She probably dissects people like that every other week.

Juggo tilted his head towards the kitchen table and together we trailed over to where everyone stood around Sakura, some still cleaning their own messes and milling about, getting food off of the table, throwing out used tin pans and whatnot. Juugo and I followed Sakura's example and threw our trash out before joining her; I was glad the others were at least minutely considerate of keeping things clean.

At the table, the chairs were messily pushed in all different angles, some awkwardly sticking out here and there and I had no doubt that Suigetsu was going to bitch about the mess later since I had been a dictator in forcing him to help me clean all morning, and it was all quickly becoming for nothing.

Sai was the only one sitting, Ino sitting on him like a canary on its perch. Speaking of Ino… I glared at her. She looked surprised for a moment, but realized _very_ quickly what I was pissy about and why exactly she deserved the subtle hostility. She smugly smirked back and mouthed, _"You'll thank me later"_ with a wink. My cheeks turned pink and I turned away.

Not yet.

_Not yet. _

"_Don't wait." _Orochimaru's words echoed in my head. As if he knew what the fuck he was talking about. Then again, he's in his fifties, approaching his sixties, and only _now_ is he thinking about relationships. I didn't want to end up like that but…

but no. Not yet. Some instinct told me to wait, even though my logic argued against me. I had been listening to my logic practically all my life, whereas Naruto always went on instinct. Maybe his instincts were always better than mine, but I think it's high time I try a different approach. After all, Naruto's in a better place than I am right now, and I could probably learn a little from him in that regard.

If I had listened to my instinct instead of my logic, I might not have hated nii-san so much… I might've wallowed in confusion for a while, but I would have thought about things differently. Itachi had known I was a logical child from the get-go. He used that against me, and like an idiot, I fell into it and ended up killing him, where during that final battle…Sakura was _right_ there, only about five kilometers away… she could have saved him. Maybe, she could have postponed the effects of his illness and brought him to Konoha. If he knew I didn't entirely believe his shit… if I had listened to something _other_ than my logic, I could have trumped his stupid act; he would have been forced into telling me the truth and maybe he'd be here with us today.

I shook my head. I can't reverse time. I can't go back and change things.

_She isn't going to tell you outright._

No, no she won't… but her actions will tell me more than her words will. She's not loud and obnoxious about her feelings anymore; if anything she's gotten even more secretive than Kakashi, which is an amazing feat for her, considering the way she used to be. But body language says it all.

And herein lies the current problem…

It's no secret that she would gladly fuck me if we were strangers. Hell, if we were strangers I probably _would_ just have sex with her; she's beautiful, exotic, smart and fucking hell does she know how to tease. And we _are_ physically attracted to each other; in fact, we always were, I just never acted on it and never admitted it even to myself. The point is, her body language towards me is ten different kinds of confusing.

One minute she's stiff and distrusting; the next she seems vulnerable, after that it's like she contemplates whether or not she should give in to her obvious frustration… but there was nothing there about _love_ even if I entirely wasn't sure what it was supposed to look like; I'm sure I'll know when I see it. Regardless; it wasn't in her eyes, or how she used to hold her hand up in a fist by her heart, as if trying to stop it from beating so fast when we were kids.

Maybe it's been a while since any female has actually _loved_ me and I just don't know what to look for, but whatever she's doing, whatever she's showing, it's not _love_ or _affection_, thus it's not time to act _yet_. I have to give it time. If something clues me in, then I'll open my mouth, if nothing happens, then forget it; I'll stay quiet, if only to save myself the pain of rejection. I'd rather live quietly in confusion than openly in misery; I've suffered enough throughout my life.

"_Don't wait._"

That thought is fucking annoying.

I'm not telling. Not yet.

I was snapped out of my thoughts, catching green and pink in front of me, holding out a red paper plate with tomato slices on it. The others were already eating and bantering... and I was just standing there… staring at the table… spacing out. She would be the only one to notice, aside from Naruto.

Juugo and Karin had decided to sit. The rest of our group were milling about, laughing and joking leaning against walls and countertops and the fireplace. I could see Naruto from the corner of my eye, he was leaning against the counter next to Kakashi, who had seemed to already eat his piece of cake. Naruto stopped in mid chew, observing me. I could tell he was concerned, but he probably already knew what was going on in my head. Even though Kakashi wasn't looking at me, I felt like he was, _somehow_. He had his ways. Naruto continued eating, probably deeming that I was allright.

Just when the hell did Sakura get the time to cut up a tomato? How long have I been out of it?

"Sasuke?" Sakura questioned, head tilted to the side. Her hair spilled over her shoulder a bit, standing out against the black of her short jacket; blazer; whatever it's called. I shook my head, my hair dusting across the back of my neck. I keep reminding myself to cut it but I never do.

"Aa?"

"You've been staring at the table for the past I don't know how long. Did it offend your or something?" She joked. I smirked.

"If it did it'd be burnt down by now."

She grinned and all but shoved the flimsy plate into my chest.

"Here."

I took it from her before the juice could ruin my shirt.

"Arigato."

She nodded, and then turned away to cut herself a piece of cake. I took the red plastic fork off of the plate she offered seconds ago and pulled a tomato slice off of it. She remembered I didn't like sweets…

I chewed on the tomato and walked over to idle next to Naruto and Kakashi, if only because I was more comfortable around them.

"Fantasizing, Sasuke?" Kakashi drawled.

Of course he'd be the first one to say something.

"Something like that." I drawled back, bleeding a little bit of danger into my tone.

He'd get what's coming to him for not being there when I needed him. I wasn't going to let him live it down.

"Were you busy staring into space or at Kurenai's ass when I was looking for you?" I deadpanned as condescendingly as I could. Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, finally defeated. I resisted the smug pride that filled my chest; I wanted to hear his real excuse now.

"I was spending time with her and Asuma in the hot water town." He revealed. "I wasn't in the village to speak with you, Sasuke. Gomen."

"Eh!? So you _did_ go on a vacation Usotsuke-sensei!" Naruto glared at Kakashi and called him a liar. He put his hands up in mock surrender.

"She had already put in a request to the hokage to go to the fair." He shrugged. "Asuma wanted to ride a ferris wheel, and Tsunade decided it would be smart to have a bodyguard go with them. Did you two forget who his father was and what enemies might be lurking to kidnap him for bounty?" Kakashi explained.

It was a _mission_…a _legitimate_ mission. I couldn't grill him now.

I shook my head and Naruto gaped at him.

"_I _didn't know about it!" Naruto practically screeched. "What the _hell —_ttebayo!"

"You weren't supposed to. I didn't want to be hunted down. It was an official mission, but it was also partly a vacation." Kakashi explained.

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't be mad at him. Everyone deserved a day off.

"Next time send a dog." I sighed and slipped another fresh tomato slice into my mouth.

"Your hawks couldn't find me?" He asked in an "innocent" tone, challenging my prowess. Asshole.

"I would have sent them if I knew you were out of Konoha." I growled back. "_I_ couldn't find you. _In Konoha_." Dick. Deserter. If I had _seriously _been tracking him down, _outside of Konoha, _I would have found him. Kakashi put his hand on my head and fucked up my hair with his bad habit.

"I'll be there next time." He promised. I felt four feet tall for being patronized but it was okay for Kakashi to do it. He'd always been like a distant father-figure anyway, even after I deserted Konoha for three years. He had the decency to command me to stop myself from killing Sakura exactly like a concerned parent would even though I didn't listen anyway. Another scintilla of guilt flashed through me before we all turned our heads towards the table.

We heard the cork being popped off of a decently-sized sake bottle and I rolled my eyes. We were _all_ going to need to go to an AA meeting after tonight. I hope someone brought enough aspirin and antacids to split between all of us…

Naruto seemed a little too excited as he dashed towards the table, where Sai was passing out sake cups that were just a bit larger than the average sake cup. The pale bastard was grinning, like he was going to enjoy the night.

I wondered if his mouth and his name-calling would get worse as the night progressed.

Ino forced a sake cup into my hand, grinning up at me mischievously before she went around passing a cup to everyone…a particulary _big_ pink one was handed to Sakura, at which her eyes narrowed.

"Ino…_pink_?" She glowered with a raised brow.

"Just take the swig before you open your presents, forehead." Ino grinned as she walked away and handed the last cup to Kakashi who didn't look like he was going to drink any more than that, thankfully. I looked around and noticed that Juugo wasn't going to drink either; he was holding a steaming cup of tea. Suigetsu was glaring at his cup, probably pissed that he didn't get the biggest cup. Tough shit; it's Sakura's birthday, not his.

"All right! This one's to Sakura! Another year knocked out; another year to kick some ass!" Ino cheered. Everyone raised their cups and simultaneously responded:

"To Sakura!"

I poured the pleasantly acidic liquid down my throat. Fuck it, I was going to get pressured into drinking tonight by Naruto anyway. Sakura unsurprisingly finished her drink early, despite having the most in her cup. Her cheeks were already pink from being the center of attention but I had no doubt that once she had a bit more sake in her system they'd _stay_ pink for the rest of the night.

Judging by the quality of the sake, Tsunade really went out of her way to make up for Sakura's misery; no doubt this gift was planned way in advance; with her reaction to everything thoroughly accounted for. I finished my drink and followed everyone as they moved to the living room table where all the gifts sat, waiting for Sakura on the glass table.

Ino shoved Sakura down on the couch and placed herself on the arm next to her. Naruto crashed down next to her, causing something like guilt to flash through her eyes; it was no surprise to me that she still felt bad for hurting him. Kakashi took a spot next to him, and next to Kakashi, sat Sai. Karin leaned over the couch on her elbows right above Sakura and Suigetsu jumped up to sit sideways on the top of the couch, next to Karin's arms.

"Nice rack, Pink." He leered over her. I rolled my eyes and Karin smacked him upside the head, taking care of the violence for me. Sakura's killing intent must've shut him up as well; we all felt it.

"Shut up, _baka-yarou_." She hissed and Suigetsu stuck his tongue out at her. She reached up and behind herself to attempt to grab it in vain.

Juugo took a seat at Orochimaru's armchair, taking the entire seat up with his size and I leaned against it, next to him, crossing my arms to cover up my restlessness.

"Before I open any of these gifts, I really want to thank you guys for coming here and cheering me up." Sakura spoke with a grateful smile.

"Just open the gifts, already!" Karin urged impatiently, poking Sakura in the back of the head. Sakura swatted her hand away, probably missing on purpose and rolled her eyes.

"You never give me the chance to be sappy!" She shot back. Karin smirked.

"You were sappy enough earlier Ms. Tearful-eyes." She crooned.

"Tch, whatever." Sakura blushed and Naruto chuckled.

"Come on, Sakura-chan! We're more excited than you are; that's backwards!" Naruto also pushed.

"All right, all right." She reached over to the table and plucked a royal blue gift first. Suigetsu looked nervous. He got her a gift? I counted the gifts. …There _was_ an extra one… I smirked.

"Eh? From Suigetsu?" Sakura blinked and looked up at him as he scratched the side of his face, not knowing what to say. She smiled.

"Maybe you're not such an asshole after all."

He glared at her.

"Oi! Just shut up and open it!"

Fucking tsundere.

Karin snickered at him and he nudged her arm with his knee in revenge.

Sakura carefully unraveled the gift, not tearing the wrapping paper off like you would expect her to. Naruto and I eyed each other and we thought the same thing: She was the only one out of team seven— aside from maybe Sai— that would do that. He grinned at me and I smirked.

"Before I open he box, Suigetsu… is it _anything_ dirty that I can't reveal to this group?" She asked, her fingers pausing over the lid of the white box. Suigetsu snickered.

"I don't know, why don't you find out?" He leered. I could tell he was lying, only because I knew him better than Sakura. She fell for his bullshit and I couldn't blame her.

Sakura glared at the box.

"Seriously!" She tried one more time.

"I'm not telling." He gave her a shit-eating grin.

"Ugh."

She tucked the box closer to her, and lifted the lid just slightly, a suspicious expression on her face. The suspicion turned into a smile and she completely opened the box, lifting up a scroll with the kanji for "weapon" stamped on it. She unrolled it, forced a little bit of chakra into the seal, and a short-sword popped out. The handle and sheath were white with red petals etched into the side and from the blade hung a red string with three pink beads at the end.

"Pink beads?" She asked with a smile; she wasn't unhappy, the beads were tasteful despite the color she didn't like.

"Your hair is pink, deal with it." He grumbled, a blush on his cheeks.

"Arigato, Suigetsu; it's beautiful."

"Duh." He shot back. Happily, Sakura sealed the sword back into the scroll, placed the scroll back into the box on top of the wrapping paper and gently set it back down on the table.

…Suigetsu probably threatened a blacksmith to make it… It was way too beautiful for him to afford; or maybe I was wrong and the money he got from bounty-hunting was enough for him to be able to purchase it. Who knows?

The next box she picked up was wrapped in purple.

"Karin." Sakura grinned. Karin smirked behind her.

"That one isn't safe to open." Karin explained. "Just open it in your room later."

Sakura blushed.

"Oh! Allright." She placed the box on top of Suigetsu's and picked up a bright yellow box.

"Naruto." She smiled. The dobe put a hand behind his head and grinned. The tessen he got her were white-gold with jade designs in them, and sharp as all hell. The outsides and clasp to hold the blades shut were a lacquered dark wood.

"Naruto, they're gorgeous!" She stared wide-eyed at the fans. Naruto grinned as she actually hugged him. He patted her back affectionately.

"Put them in your apartment on display." He instructed. She gave him a sad smile as she pulled away, probably not expecting to have the time to admire them... little did she know. Naruto and I looked at each other again and we smirked. She was going to be in for a big surprise when Naruto took the seat in a few months.

"Thanks, Naruto."

"Mn! Sakura-chan! No problem." He replied a little too giddily; the way he usually talks when he has some prank or other shit planned. She placed the fans and his box next to Karin and Suigetsu's gifts.

The next box she picked up was a green wrapped one.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She chirped. He put his porn down from next to Naruto and turned his head to look at her. Naruto snickered. We all knew he wasn't _really_ reading. She opened the box to reveal…

…

A book on fuuinjutsu…

…

How _convenient_…

My eyes narrowed at him.

Did he _know_?

Or did he just _guess_?

He vaguely smiled at me with his trademark eye-crinkle. I'd have to interrogate him later.

"Eh!?" Sakura opened the navy cover and scanned the contents. She was effectively keeping quiet on what the gift was, probably so Orochimaru wouldn't hear about it through the door. So long as no one opened their fucking mouths, we were in the clear. I scanned the room and felt reassured that no one seemed to give a shit.

"Wow, sensei, this is really complex…" She turned to him and smiled brightly. "Arigato!" He nodded and smiled at her.

"Study it well." He cryptically replied. She gave him a grave look and nodded. Kakashi _definitely_ knew. Naruto probably told him on their trip here. I looked over at my brother and Naruto tipped his head the slightest bit to confirm my thoughts. I tipped my head back as Sakura turned to the next gift. It was wrapped in white… a gift from Sai. She opened it and it turned out to be a packet of incense.

"Eh? Jasmine, Sandalwood, and Rose?" She looked confused.

"For relaxation and meditation, ugly." Sai explained. "Maybe your face will look better if you get enough sleep."

His girlfriend somehow materialized a shuriken and whirled it at his head. Kakashi and Naruto ducked _just_ in time, the metal whizzing over their heads. Unfortunately Sai managed to dodge it too. He deserved a cut or ten for that one. Regardless, at least Ino had the decency to defend Sakura over her boyfriend.

"I thought you loved me!" Sai pretended to sound broken-hearted, but we all caught the gleam in his eyes and the mocking way he put his hand over his heart. Somehow, even though he tried to put the emotion into his tone, he failed. Him and Kakashi were similar in that aspect; if I had the audacity to behave like that in public I'd probably sound just as stupid. Ino raised a condescending brow.

"Chicks before dicks, handsome." Ino slyly remarked.

I raised an eyebrow at his responding smirk. Ino was about to get served; she bit off more than she could chew this time.

"I doubt you will be singing the same song later tonight, beautiful…" He deadpanned back. I held back a snicker like almost everyone in the room. Naruto shamelessly tried to hold in a laugh; failing miserably. That was fucking priceless; as a man I had to give him credit for that. Ino gaped, unable to say anything to that and Sakura, and Karin blushed.

"Keep your dick in your pants and your business in your bedroom; I don't need an image." Karin drawled, but her cheeks were still red. Naruto let his laugh rip.

"Damn, you shoot out some good ones." Suigetsu half-complemented, half-envied.

"It's better than shooting blanks." Sai replied with his fake smile.

"_Sai!_" Ino chastised and Sakura and Karin snorted and started to laugh. Kakashi smiled behind his book while Suigetsu was on fire with murderous intent.

"Uh..uhhaha! Yyyyeeeeah, anyway, open up the next gift, Sakura-chan!" Naruto urged, ever the peacemaker. Sakura, always on his team and all for peace and non-embarrassing topics immediately put the box to the side and picked up the next one. This one was wrapped in silver.

"Ino-pig." Sakura fondly murmured and unwrapped the gift, opening the box to reveal a keychain with a pig and a sakura flower on it.

"Eh?" Sakura blinked.

Ino snickered and the devil's grin appeared on her face before she stifled a laugh.

"Oh, you know, Sakura… so you don't lose your key again." Her voice was high-pitched, and we could all tell she was trying _really hard_ not to laugh. I shamelessly smirked; I have to admit, that one was _good_. Sakura looked aggravated.

"Ino-pig…." She threatened.

Naruto bit his lip, his face red. His eyes watered; he was enjoying this shit way too much. I tried to compose myself as Kakashi stuck his nose further into his book and Karin held a snicker back behind her hand.; with Ino's big mouth I'm not surprised that she already knew, though I didn't know how much. The rest of the room didn't get it; their clueless looks were amusing; they didn't know what was so funny about losing a key.

"It's a _joke_ Sakura, look through the tissue paper, jeez! That's not the only thing in there!" Ino assured.

Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes.

"That's the last time I'm telling you _anything_." She vowed.

I wondered exactly how _that_ conversation went. My eyes met Ino's and she shook her head. She was _not_ going to tell me _anything_. I rolled my eyes.

Sakura dug through the wrapping paper and found a scroll.

"That scroll holds some cute outfits I thought would suit you for the summer, along with makeup, a hairbrush, a blow dryer, a curling iron…some other stuff. You can look through it all later." Ino smiled, the picture of confidence, but I read beneath the underneath… I was just waiting for Sakura to realize why Ino got her all that stuff.

Sakura looked at her confused.

"But I already have…

It dawned on her.

"…a blow dryer…" She finished her statement poisonously and turned sharp green eyes on Ino, pinning her down.

Ino gave her an innocent look, unafraid of her temper.

"What? I figured you could use a spare set…" She defended herself again, mock innocently.

I started to get nervous, but I reminded myself that my gift wasn't over-the-top. Naruto's tessen were expensive too. Solid white-gold, stainless steel edges and expensive lacquered wood… that was about the same price as the pin I got her, right? The sword Suigetsu got her was _definitely _expensive. My nerves calmed a little at that. Thank kami-sama for Naruto and for once, for Suigetsu.

Sakura grabbed Juugo's gift next. It was orange-wrapped, like his hair. Sakura smiled.

"Juugo-san." Sakura sled warmly; I was glad that she was a good friend to Juugo; he needed someone who wasn't afraid of him snapping. If anything, Sakura was the perfect person to control him, other than myself, if he ended up having an episode. That monstrous strength of hers goes a long way when it comes to controlling a berserker like Juugo. I'm sure he appreciates her for that as well.

"Eh, Sakura-chan I thought I was your favorite patient?" Naruto pouted jokingly. I rolled my eyes.

Sakura turned angry green eyes to Naruto, _and_ Kakashi who flinched, probably already expecting the verbal lashing the moment Naruto opened his mouth.

"_You_, _and _Kakashi-sensei are the worst patients _ever_! You two run away more than Genma does!" She growled. Juugo eyed the box in her hand fearfully; he probably worried that she'd crush it out of anger.

Naruto gave her a nervous smile.

"Eh…heh-heh…?"

"Sakura-chan…don't be so hard on your old sensei…" Kakashi also looked embarrassed.

"Tch, 'old' yeah right; some amazing old guy you are if you can escape the hospital like that!" Sakura snapped. "Geez. The shit I deal with from you guys." She mumbled under her breath, but then turned smiling eyes toward the gift in her hands; I heard Juugo release a quiet sigh of relief and smirked. She unwrapped it and grinned brightly at the box, pulling out a bag of coffee and smelling it.

"Yatta! Arigato Juugo!" She hugged the coffee to her chest.

"I thought you would want a better quality coffee to drink than the brand the hospital has to offer…" He quietly explained with a blush.

She grinned brightly.

"I can't believe you remembered that about me! Honto-ni-arigato!"

Juugo nodded as she set aside his gift… in an incredibly good mood… who knew coffee could make her so happy? But it made sense. She practically ran on it at the hospital; at any hospital throughout the five great nations, probably. Why didn't _I_ think of that? The simple things in life usually had the most impact.

She turned to the last gift… my gift… I'd be a liar if I said my mouth didn't go dry. Would she like it? What if she hated it? Why am I even worrying?

_Because it'll just sit there if she doesn't use it. _

Right. Who else could I give it to that doesn't live in Konoha and isn't infatuated with me if she hates it?

"Saving the best for last, Sakura-chan?" Naruto grinned at her; the bastard. I fought the heat rising up my neck. Does he _have_ to make comments like that? I glared at him and he smirked back at me. Sakura's cheeks pinked a little. She wisely and thankfully ignored Naruto's horrendous bullshit and unwrapped the gift carefully. _Fuck_, why am I so antsy? I shouldn't be nervous. I don't get nervous anymore. Last time I was so nervous was when I thought we'd be expelled from the chunnin exams because Naruto raised his stupid hand.

_Relax_ Sasuke. You're fucking being uncool.

She opened the box and thank _kami-sama_ her breath caught. Then her eyes widened; I only saw the minute change in expression because I was _staring right at her face_. I couldn't help it.

"Sasuke…" She breathed.

Shit. Shit.

Just _say something_, Sakura. Happy or sad, pick one, don't stand there in limbo.

Her head turned and her eyes locked with mine. I tried hard _not_ to swallow; it was one of those moments I was _grateful_ for Orochimaru's training. Even if I _am_ nervous, it's not like anyone will know. She gave me a surprised smile; clearly _very_ happy. So much tension left my body I could probably manage turning into water better than Suigetsu in a serious fight.

"How'd you know I was looking for one of these?" She asked, genuinely curious, a light in her eyes I hadn't seen before.

_Waitwhat_? I blinked at her. I didn't know how to respond to that so I shrugged. She was looking for a senbon-pin? At least now I know she'll use it. My mind caught up and the next thing I knew I was smirking at her.

"For _those_ missions; '_hime-sama_'." I joked and she blushed, remembering _exactly _which night _that_ conversation happened during. The others snickered because they knew I was talking about undercover infiltration or decoy missions, but they weren't in on the memory like Sakura and I were.

"Thank you." She spoke then, gently ghosted the tips of her fingers over the fire lilly, smirked at it— probably because she knew how deadly it could be— and placed it back into the box.

I was glad the attention was off of my gift to her. I was glad that was overwith. Absently; I thought that maybe I _did_ need another drink.

"Let me help you bring those upstairs, forehead." Ino declared and I glared at her because I didn't miss the mischief in her eyes. She's just never going to let this shit go. She's as stubborn as I am; you'd think she was fucking related to me if she wasn't blonde and blue-eyed.

"Good idea." Sakura agreed, blind to what was about to happen to her.

"I'm getting more booze." Karin stated, already trailing back towards the kitchen.

"Yes! Awesome idea!" Suigetsu agreed, hopping off of the couch to follow her.

"Ooh! Hand me a beer, Karin-nee!" Naruto practically skipped after them and with him others started chuckling and leaving their seats.

Ino caught my eyes while helping Sakura pick up her gifts just as I was turning to walk towards the kitchen. She rolled her eyes, probably because I did _not_ look happy with her, and slightly waved her hand, telling me in her own way not to worry. I nodded at her; a silent threat. She _better_ not say anything. She shot me a narrow-eyed look for my attitude, but I was already turned away and didn't feel like motioning something else unpleasant in response. I heard Sakura and Ino's nearly-silent steps as they climbed the stairs and ambled over next to Naruto.

The dobe was holding _two_ bottles in his hands. One was some fruity drink I didn't blame him for drinking, the other was a beer. He was _trying_ to get plastered tonight; probably to let loose from his future-kage duties.

"Like what I did there, na, teme?" He grinned outshining the sun itself as I glared back. No I _wasn't_ happy with him increasing my stress and tension. That was fucked up and I'd get him back for it eventually.

My eye caught Kakashi holding some liquor above Karin's head as she and Suigetsu tried to get it back, both too short to reach it. Sai had his sketchbook out and a drink sitting next to him as he drew the event from his seat on the countertop… _the one I just fucking cleaned this morning…_ and Juggo peacefully smiled as he did absolutely nothing to control them all, sipping on his tea next to the kitchen table.

I watched as Naruto dove into the Suigetsu and Karin vs. Kakashi battle and grabbed Kakashi into a headlock he could have _definitely_ avoided, but didn't, allowing Suigetsu to grab onto his wrist, and Karin to wrest the bottle out of his hand.

Tonight was going to get fucking crazy…

-X-

Well that's it for this chapter folks! I'm so glad you guys reviewed! Thanks again!

See ya Later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: Naruto ™® belong to Masashi Kishimoto and co. This is written for fun and I make no money from it— fucking hell, is this really necessary!?


	34. Pregame shenanigans

KISEKI

KISEKIIIIII! *glomps humanoid version of this fanfic* I've MISSED YOU!

I've been away, dear readers. I have committed a terrible act of fandom sin. I've tasted the lascivious wine of Narusaku… if you haven't followed me as an author, look on my page. You will see NaruSaku. *hiss*

All right, enough theatrics. Really though, if you guys are pretty fandom-neutral and overall want to read some great porn (like our favorite copy ninja), please, visit SENTAKU SURU on my page. =] that being said, let's get on with this fic.

|34|

When we finally reached my temporary room in this hellhole, Karin flopped onto my mattress and crossed her arms behind her head. She snickered as Ino shoved her legs over with her ass and dumped herself onto the mattress, simultaneously pulling me down with her and nearly breaking my fucking ankles in the process, no thanks to the heels I was forced to wear. I almost dropped the not-safe-for-public gift from Karin.

"Shit, didn't you bring any flats, Ino!?" I huffed.

"Tch, and give you an escape? No way, forehead; life isn't that easy."

"I helped defeat Kaguya! I _know_ life isn't easy!" I snapped back. "Is it really that much to ask for!?"

"Shut up and open my gift!" Karin growled and rolled over onto her side to watch me. "And I hate your big ass, Ino." She added at the end.

"Right? And how come she gets the full package: ass _and_ boobs!?" I agreed. Ino sniffed smugly.

"My dear subjects, you are merely jealous." She spoke in an over-exaggerated imperial tone. Karin smirked and I knew Ino was about to get owned.

"Don't worry your highness, your terrible personality makes up for it." She quipped back; my hero. Ino snapped her head around to face the Uzumaki girl, and Karin dodged Ino's hair-whip in the nick of time.

"I _swear_ are you sure you and Sai aren't related!?" Ino huffed.

"He ripped you good, Ino." I figured it would be a good time to remind her of how her boyfriend, _my_ teammate, thankyouverymuch, _owned_ her back downstairs. Naturally, she blushed; Sai was practically the only person who could flabbergast her and shut her mouth.

"You like it that much, huh?" Karin gave her a shit-eating grin. Apparently, Sai was good enough in bed to actually fluster Ino at the mention of it; I didn't exactly _need_ to know that about _him_ in particular, but I have to admit that I'm happy for them both. Sai was _broken_ when he was first put on my team. It was nice to see that he made a relatively full recovery.

"I can't believe you guys are against me!" Ino pounded her fist on my mattress and made a dent in the navy comforter.

"You deserve it for that shit you pulled with my gifts from you." I wasn't about to let her live that down. I did _not_ want anyone knowing _anything_ about my one week vacation at the Uchiha lair of sexual tension and good cooking.

"You can't tell me they weren't useful. When you and Sasuke-kun get married you'll never lose your mansion key again and in the meantime you have all the necessities you need updated for when you move into his apartment." She blinked innocently and smiled angelically, but it was _fake as hell_.

I gaped at the bitch, and then I growled and lunged at her, body-slamming her into the bed, shaking her by her shoulders as she laughed and Karin wailed, unfortunately caught in the cross-fire. I felt bad for her joints, honestly, we were rocking against her knees aggressively, but at the same time I hoped Ino would feel those knee caps between her ribs and in all the other painful places on her torso.

"Ino you _bitch_! It's _not _like that! We're just _friends_ will you quit it already!" I had the fuck enough.

"No way, it's too fun to rile you up, besides I'm just kidding, really. But would it hurt to have some spare stuff incase anything like that happens again?" Ino asked and I stopped shaking her for a moment. I thought about it.

"_Yes_ because he _totally _has the wrong idea _thanks to you_ and that smug asshole doesn't deserve the right to ever think I still feel like that about him!" I explained, legitimately a little hurt. Ino knew when to recognize genuine distress and she gave me a serious expression before she smile as if she knew something I didn't. I knew that look _very _well…she's going to whip out information that I really won't want to think about later tonight, if I can think straight at all after tonight.

"But you get along _really_ well with that smug asshole; for him being a smug asshole, of course."

I let her go and sat back up straight; Karin sighed in relief and I sighed to let go of the last of my frustration.

"We get along because we're like-minded; that's it. I swear we're just friends and _trust me_ I'm going to keep it like that; his stupid sex appeal being a factor or not. He made it _very_ clear that we can't be like that throughout our whole lives and I think I deserve someone who cares about me in that way anyway. I wasted too much of my life pining after him when he was out there fucking girls, ruining lives, giving Naruto heart-attacks, and planning to annihilate Konoha. I'm over it."

"Waitwait_wait_ fucking girls?...Back _then_?" Ino asked, and then turned to Karin, suspiciously.

"Wasn't with me!" The Uzumaki girl swore; hands up in a conceding gesture. Ino turned back to me, and Karin played with her straightened hair; ready to listen now that she was out of the line of fire.

"Oh, I completely forgot about it. Hah, it's really funny in hindsight, now that I think about it." I grinned; it really is if you leave out the fact that I _wasted my life on him_.

"Well, out with it…what do you know that I don't?" Ino asked, tapping a finger on Karin's thigh now that she was partially draped over the redhead's legs.

"Well, ah-ha-ha… you see… when I found out what I was going to have to do here, without really knowing the reason why… because my temper got in the way, I kind of told Sasuke to fuck off…"

Ino's eyes widened.

"For real?" She asked quietly, as if she really didn't believe me yet.

"Yeah, they had to get me and Naruto-nii to hunt her down; bitch can hide really well, but not from me." Karin explained and grinned when I shot her a sore-loser glare. Either way, it was nice of her to validate me.

"Yeah for real, but anyway, when I told him to fuck off I used a flash tag to blind him while he had the sharingan activated." I snorted here; that was a _great_ move. Quick thinking, Sakura. I should make a shadow clone just to pat myself on the back for that one. Ino gaped at me, amazed I'd be willing to fuck Sasuke over like that.

"He pulled rank on me, the asshole, and so I told him to tell Tsunade-sama that she could label me nukenin because I'd rather die than fix Orochimaru's DNA. And I ran. I ended up at a bar somewhere really far away; I was so pissed I swear I didn't even know where I was going while I was running. Anyway, at the bar, this blue-haired chick helped me out. She took me to her house and told me stories. One of them was about a shinobi who motivated her to fix her, uh …_situation_ once upon a time when she and said shinobi were like really young. Like fifteenish-young."

"Sasuke-kun?" Ino guess correctly. Her pretty eyes were wide. Yes, Ino. Sasuke.

"Yes, Sasuke. He fucking motivated her, yes, but kind of after they fucked." I explained.

"_What_!" Both of them hissed in whispers. I didn't realize I was whispering too.

"You _can't_ say anything! Don't _ever_ repeat this!" They nodded gravely and I continued.

"Anyway, so I was at this woman's house, not knowing any better and her husband came by and blah blah we're having dinner and guess who— with who's help—

I glared at Karin and she blushed in apology.

"—showed up at the door?" I finished.

Ino gasped.

"You're _shitting_ me!"

"I'm _not_."

"No fucking way."

"So, she opened the door and you should have _heard_ him gasp. Me and Aoi—her husband by the way; they really love each other—were there so fast you wouldn't believe."

"So what happened after that?" Ino asked.

"She tore the house down." Karin supplied in a bored tone and Ino gasped.

"Shhh! Not yet!" What the fuck, she missed my reason why! I had a _reason_!

"Yeah, I wanna know the details." Ino reprimanded her and I resisted the urge to smirk smugly.

"Okay, so they're staring at each other… and it took me a second, but I connected the dots. And then Aoi connected the dots too and shook his hand. The whole thing was _really _awkward."

I omitted the part of _where_ he had done it with this woman and _whose _name he had mumbled that night… but _still_. I felt scandalized that I was telling them anyway. I knew neither of them would actually say anything about it, but I still felt like I was betraying Sasuke in a way. My guilty conscience rose up a little, but it was too late now so I forced it back from where it came and moved on.

"I told him to get out of my way because there's no way in hell I was going to do anything beneficial to Orochimaru and, duh, Sasuke's _Sasuke_, so he wouldn't move, so my only remaining option was tearing down the house. I knew he'd take a minute or two to save Rena and Aoi so I booked it as the roof started to cave in." I shrugged and waited for a reaction from Ino who was still stunned in disbelief. Well... if she was looking for good gossip tonight, she found it.

"And then _I_ had to deal with him while he looked for you and left Naruto-nii to clean your mess." Karin grumbled at me and filled the silence.

"Sorry about that." I apologized sincerely and turned back to Ino. "But you see; this is why I won't waste my time on him anymore. You tell me how sickeningly in love I was with him when in reality I don't matter to him in that way. Are we friends? Yes. Do we give a shit about each other as friends? Absolutely. He's my _teammate_ Ino. But nothing more than that. And I don't want him to be anything else but that. It works this way so I'm not going to mess it up by opening that box again, if it still even exists." I explained. Ino gave me a depressed look and I think she _finally_ understood what I've been trying to say this entire time.

"Well, can you at least fuck him? I'm getting tired of feeling your chakras fluctuate and shit." Karin replied in a disgusted tone. Ino and I looked at her. Wait a minute; wait a minute… is that how she can tell two people are physically attracted to each other?

"You can tell?" Ino asked.

"Yes, do you have any idea how annoying it is to feel in the village?" She grumbled. "Everywhere he goes there's obviously female chakras flickering left and right; I'm fucking tired of it." She whined as if she had recited her problem over a thousand times already.

"Eh? Wow, I didn't know it was like that for you…" I commented; poor Karin…

She smirked devilishly.

"The only time his chakra flickers back, though is when you're around... And for the occasional girl he probably would fuck but doesn't because they'd probably pin a pregnancy on him for his money." She added in, holding one finger up.

I shook my head.

"Doesn't matter how good he looks or whether or not he wants to; it's not happening." But I blushed anyway, remembering that night we wrestled. So I _wasn't_ imagining that…_tension_. Holy shit… I failed to hide my reaction before Ino noticed it. _Shit_.

"What happened Sakura…." She deadpanned.

"I'd _really_ rather keep it to myself?" I _begged _her to let me keep it to myself.

Ino rolled her eyes.

"_Fine—_

Oh thank _kami-sama _I love you! 

"—but only because I've already tortured you enough." But she didn't look done, not yet. There was a scheme behind her eyes, and I gave her a suspicious look but Karin sighed and interrupted me before I could grill her.

"So are you going to open my gift or not?" She drawled, half-annoyed, half-uncaring.

Satisfied that I wouldn't have to tell Ino about _that_ night, or _that _moment to be specific, I nodded, smiling, still wary of that glint in my best friend's eyes. I carefully unwrapped Karin's box and threw the wrapping paper into the wastebasket across the room. When I took off the lid and grasped the fabric my eyes widened. It was a pure white corset with a tasteful feminine trim at the top and lace and beads here and there, a matching thong that had the perfect cut to show off my ass, and matching thigh-highs with silky bows the tie them onto my legs that same, cute and feminine frill at the tops, like the corset. It came with a raunchy bow to tie around either your hair or your neck. It was _exactly_ like the one the character in my book wore when she wanted to seduce the prince to get the throne!

"Whoah." Ino breathed. "Where'd you get this?"

Karin smirked proudly.

"At a fantasy convention on my way home from a mission. I saw some well-crafted memorabilia in one section dedicated to a book I saw Sakura reading." She shrugged. "'Thought you'd like it, Haruno."

I dove over Ino and hugged her. That was by far the _coolest gift ever_! Probably better than the coffee!

"_Thank you_!" I squealed.

Ino snickered even though she was currently squished between us, her boobs ready to explode from the amount of weight forced onto them.

"Wear it to bed when you sleep with Sa-suke-kun."

The bitch wouldn't stop teasing. I threw the emptied box at her head from close-range. She snorted, shoved me off, pushed off of Karin's thigh and sat upright again.

"All right, come on, we should get going downstairs; it won't be any fun if the guys get piss drunk before we do." Ino grinned. Still glaring, I stood up after she did and walked over to my dresser as Karin followed Ino towards my door. I carefully placed Karin's outfit to me in an empty drawer with all my other gifts. It had a nice spot right next to the _epic_ senbon hair-pin Sasuke got me. Of all the gifts I got, aside from Juugo's his was the by far the cleverest; I had been looking for one of these because I knew Tsunade-sama was going to want to send me on another decoy mission soon. I partially felt bad, because it was obviously expensive and exclusive; not like he couldn't afford it, of course, but _still_. The red and orange glass coating the steel was beautiful, as was the fire-lilly on top; he definitely went out of his way to find a gorgeous pin. Actually, it's so pretty I'm hoping I'll never have to use it in a dire situation, but I'm sure if I do, it'll survive the bloodshed and still look good.

Suigetsu's sword was pretty cool too, definitely good to use on an assassination… just in case it doesn't go as quietly as I hope. I might actually consult Temari about tessenjutsu, just because there is _no way_ those tessen Naruto got me are going to just sit and collect dust in my apartment.

Even though I was pissy about them; I appreciated Sai and Ino's gifts. I needed to replace all my appliances anyway, the keychain would really actually prevent me from losing my keys again, and the incense would be nice while taking a hot shower. Kakashi-sensei hit the nail on the head with the fuuinjutsu book and I couldn't wait to try out the coffee Juugo got me. All-in-all this is one of the best birthdays I've ever had as far as presents go.

"Stop smiling at that expensive pin and hurry up!" Did Ino really have to be so conspicuous and obvious!? The door was open! They could _totally _hear her downstairs if they're being quiet!

"I love and hate you two." I grumbled and hugged them, even though Karin never really went out of her way to piss me off like Ino did. They were still friends that I've missed these last four years. I haven't hung out with them since after the war.

They hugged me back and Karin made some comment about me being sappy again. Anyway, when we finally got downstairs Sai and Suigetsu were taking a shot every time Bee said "baka-yarou/konno-yarou" in his song on the radio. I think it's best to note here that this is the first time I've seen any color in Sai's cheeks. Both him and Suigetsu were smirking, because obviously they both thought they were beating the other. Sasuke was draped over Orochimaru's chair like it was his throne, a beer in one hand, his head resting on his other arm, watching the contest with what looked like boredom on his face while Naruto was cackling about one thing or another with Kakashi-sensei and then ran over to plant his ass _right_ on Sasuke's stomach, to which said Uchiha growled and activated his sharingan. He couldn't do anything without looking homosexual with Naruto's weight on him in that position, so instead he used his forearm to pull Naruto backwards into a choke-hold, smirking, beer still in his other hand.

Kakashi-sensei, probably the orchestrator of Naruto's attack shook his head, standing next to a chuckling Juugo, still holding his cup of tea from before. Suigetsu snickered from his place on the couch next to Sai and said something insulting towards Sasuke to which Naruto cackled at, to which Sasuke tightened his grip around his throat, turning the future hokage blue in the face.

"Yare, yare, Sasuke. I thought you were over trying to kill Naruto." Kakashi-sensei drawled. Of course, he'd be the one to casually drop a snide comment.

"Not until he dies." Sasuke deadpanned back.

"Te…me… let me …go…"

"Say you're my bitch and I might let you have _some_ air, _dobe_." Sasuke visciously responded. Pissed, Karin put her hands on her hips. Ino and I looked at her; shit was about to get real. She _never_ stood up to oppose Sasuke. She was usually trying to avoid him. Both Ino and I knew this was going to be one of those make-or-break moments.

"Oi, Sasuke, if you don't let my cousin go, I'll personally make sure you'll never get to make any Uchiha babies… _ever_." Karin threatened, and the room went quiet. It was an absolute _sin_ to threaten Uchiha Sasuke's reproductive system. Everyone knew he was the last Uchiha left in existence and everyone knew he wanted to bring his clan back.

…Everything was _really _quiet and the seconds stretched on as Karin and Sasuke stared at each other. Karin's pink eyes were unwavering and Sasuke seemed to be studying her while Naruto continued to choke under his forearm, reaching up to tap out on his elbow only to be ignored by the entire room. Of course, Naruto could _force_ Sasuke off of him and all would be well, but no one moved simply because just about _everyone_ knew that Sasuke had betrayed and stabbed Karin, and then left her to just…_die_. 

"I owe it to you." Sasuke replied _clearly_, and seriously. He let Naruto go and my blonde teammate then rubbed his neck in an exaggerated manner. Karin smirked and crossed her arms, triumphant over Sasuke and in a way, friends with him again. I was glad that she was moving past her stigma on him. Sasuke smirked back at her and then Naruto turned around and grabbed Sasuke by his bangs, pulling hard.

"Te_meeeeeeeh_!" He growled lowly.

"Let go of my hair or I'll snip your balls off, dobe I'm _not_ fucking around." Sasuke threatened, on the border of yelling, only because he already had almost en entire bottle of beer and had definitely loosened up by now.

"Oh, _no~ooo~ooo~ooo_ princess Sasuke is worried about his haaa~ir." Suigetsu insulted from the background and Sai laughed, _actually laughed_. Like for real. When did he become capable of doing that, again? Sasuke punched Naruto in his ribs and the blonde jumped off of him, finally. I laughed and Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at me. I blushed under their attention; it was just weird having them both here in a not-tense atmosphere.

"I know! Let's play Kings!" Naruto suggested.

Ino and I looked at each other.

"…Kings?" Ino asked for me. Karin next to us rolled her eyes. She obviously knew what it was.

"I wanna play!" Suigetsu shouted and ditched Sai on the couch who looked interested too.

"What are the rules?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, you just kind of have to play and learn as you go, but we need a deck of cards."

Naruto paused for a second and his eyes lit up before his entire face did with his usual grin. He dropped his fist into his palm.

"—_And_ a _really_ big cup!" He added. I went over to the kitchen cabinet to start fishing for the biggest cup I could find, grabbing a bottle of liquor from the kitchen table on my trip there.

"Isn't there a deck of cards on top of the book shelf?" Suigetsu asked and I heard him walk across the living room to check. I finally found a tall water glass, and hoped it would work.

"Like this Naruto?" I asked as I turned around and showed him the glass. He frowned and shook his head.

"No, Sakura-chan, _really _big." Naruto made and exaggerated motion with his arms and my eyes widened. What in hell would we need something _that_ big for?

"Like the opposite of his dick." Sai stood next to Naruto, which was probably not a good idea, because Naruto grabbed him by his collar and shook him, probably for no reason because Sai's face was blank. I laughed at Naruto, because it was funny. No amount of violence was going to change how much Sai ripped on him; it was just Sai's thing.

"ASSHOLE! IF YOU'RE SO CONFIDENT SHOW US YOUR DICK!"

"Ew fuck that, I don't want to see his nasty foreskin. You're giving me a bad image." I could hear the disgust in Suigetsu's tone. Sasuke snorted while I put the glass away.

"You're the one imagining his dick… you sure you're being honest when you say it's a bad image for you?"

"Sasuke, shut the fuck up before I cut you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Now, now, Let's not get violent. I found the perfect cup, Naruto." I turned to find Kakashi sensei with… a vase. It was clear, and certainly _very _round and large, and the top was very small, only a flower or three would fit in it. It was an odd piece, but that's what decorative pieces were usually like. I blinked as sensei walked up to the sink to dump out the water and place the two lavender plants on some paper towels on the counter.

"…What are we going to do with that?" I asked. Naruto grinned as he leaned against the wall and shuffled the deck Suigetsu found.

"One sorry shinobi is going to end up drinking _all _of our remaining drinks at the end of the game." He explained with a gleam in his eyes.

…I was starting to like the idea of this game. What did he call it again? "Kings"?

Kakashi-sensei used a water jutsu and some dish soap to clean out the vase and I followed him over to the class table. Sasuke, Sai, and Suigetsu moved the couches and arm chair aside and Karin, Ino, Kakashi-sensei and Juugo went to go pick up chairs and place them around the table. I moved to go help, but Sasuke placed a hand on my shoulder, rooting me in place. I glared up at him.

"You've caused enough heart attacks today doing things you shouldn't be doing on your birthday." He explained. I crossed my arms and shrugged off his hand.

"It's _my_ birthday; don't I technically get to do what I want?"

He thought about that a minute.

"You're an adult; no." He answered bluntly. I gaped at him.

"That's _backwards_!" I hissed.

"It is, and all the chairs are around the table now, so sit down." He smirked. I smacked his shoulder.

"You tricked me!" He nodded.

"Great deduction skills. Sit." He commanded as he trailed over to sit on a chair as everyone started to take their places.

Juugo sat and watched from the armchair at a distance, and just about everyone had picked up the same strong bottle of liquor I did. I sat next to Sasuke, to Sasuke's right sat Naruto, after Naruto sat Kakashi-sensei, after Kakashi-sensei sat Sai, after Sai sat Ino and after Ino, sat Karin and after Karin sat Suigetsu, directly to my left. Naruto cleared his throat.

I couldn't wait to start.

-X-

Okay, I ended it here, on such short notice because there's really no more fun to be had from Sakura's perspective. I figured the entire game would be _way_ more fun from Sasuke's perspective since he has a habit of being so colorful in his descriptions lol I'm so sorry I kept you guys waiting, but the rules of Kings need to be explained right before the game is played. I don't want you guys to forget the rules after this update— since I don't have a set update schedule, and then have to click back and forth between chapters to refresh you memories; that's just stupid. So yeah, I know this one was short and I usually write longer chapters but I promise you the next one will be better. I'm getting back into the swing of writing Sasusaku and KISEKI in general, and this was the perfect chapter to do it with!

Again, if you're not fandomly biased and want to read some great porn even if it's Narusaku, visit SENTAKU SURU on my profile. You guys might really like it. We all love reading lemons, of course ;)

Anyway, thank you guys so much for your patience and support. Hearts to all of you!

See ya later, Space Cowboy!

Dislcaimer: Naruto ®™ belong to Masashi Kishimoto and co. Author makes no money posting this.


	35. Fishbowl

KISEKI 35

**HELLO READERS! **

First and foremost, I almost got a 4.0 this semester. ALMOST. So close, yet so very far. My hiatus has been well worth it.

That being said, I am back!

Also, I reread this chapter and decided it was just blah; not my best. That's what I get for churning out an update half-dead in the middle of the night, ugh.

**I invite you, dear readers, to reread this chapter, and promise you a chapter soon! **

**Thank you so kindly for your patience. **

**XOXOXOXO**

"Okay, here's how we play. You see the fish bowl—

"It's a _vase_, dobe." It's not a fucking fish bowl; you can't squeeze a fish in there unless it's a _really small_ fish. Naruto looked annoyed before he took a deep, calming breath and spoke.

"Shut the fuck up, teme." He frankly said without any venom and moved on. I glared at him. There will be payback for that later. "The _fishbowl_ is 'the chalice'. The cards go around the chalice." Naruto spread the cards with blue and white kumogakure symbols on the back in a circle around the base of the _vase_. It's a _vase_. I don't care what he says.

I've seen anbu playing "Kings" at the headquarters on their downtime. Rat played when he was still around; it_ looked _fun even though I never had the time to play with them. Even so, their version of Kings was different. They didn't have a chalice or a circle of cards. Leave it to Naruto to put his own spin on things.

"We all take turns picking a card as we go around the circle. The loser who breaks the circle of cards has to finish what's left of their drink in one shot, doesn't matter how big your bottle or cup is or how close to alcohol poisoning you are—ttebayo!" He explained with a grin and a sparkle in his blue eyes, though that sparkle could have just been the glaze of alcohol shining through… I couldn't tell anyway since I was feeling a little too relaxed to care at the moment. My eyes lingered over to Sakura for a moment. She was grinning at Ino and Ino was grinning at her. She looked beautiful, especially in her outfit, but she always looks beautiful in the clothes she wears. I'm sure she's even sexier naked, but that's a given. In any case, even Juugo looked excited to be a spectator. I couldn't help my own grin as I listened to Naruto further explain the rules.

"Anyway, each card that a person picks means something. What it means is what we make it mean; basically the "house rules". I'll teach you guys _my_ house rules and how I usually play. Let's start with Sakura-chan!"

He turned to her and she looked at the table; a small smile on her face, slight blush on her cheeks, her soft-looking legs bent. I grit my teeth. It wouldn't do to get caught staring…fucking alcohol. I never intended to drink this much in my entire life. In these last few weeks I've drank more than I have in my entire life not counting the poisons Orochimaru had made me consume. And I'm only mentioning the poisons because the body views alcohol and poison as the same thing. The end result from consuming either is the same: you feel like shit the next morning, if you survive. Sakura picked up a card, careful not to break the circle just yet. It was a two of hearts.

"Okay, two, means 'you'. Point at someone and they have to drink." Naruto explained. Sakura took her time looking at each person, deciding. Her fingers gently touched her lips and I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss them. They looked soft and pink. Tasty.

Suigetsu and Ino smirked, while Sai shamelessly burped. Kakashi looked neutral. Karin took a sip of her bottle and Sakura's eyes lingered on me for a minute.

Fuck. Don't blush. Don't turn red. _Don't_. _Not yet_.

She smirked and I smirked back. Have we become official drinking buddies?

"Sasuke, bottoms up!" She instructed in a superficially smug tone. She was having fun with me, and I obeyed too easily, as usual. I tipped my whiskey back, taking a small sip like Naruto instructed. This whiskey had a sharp sting to it, which tasted pretty good, but only after a few sips when your tongue got used to it. Initially, it felt like I was sucking on rubbing alcohol mixed with charred wood. I don't know how Sakura could drink _this_ with a smile on her face, but whatever. It was imported from Kusagakure so I'm not surprised. They don't have a very good selection of alcohols, but their tolerable ones are a rarity, which is probably why Tsunade had picked it for us. Regardless, this shit didn't win me over initially, but it was okay now.

"Okay, now put the used card on top of the fishbowl. We'll keep stacking the cards on it and the loser who knocks over the stack gets our leftover booze dumped into the bowl and has to drink it all down— that's when the game ends. Got it?" Naruto explained. Clearly the point of this game was to kill someone. I was starting to see a little bit of strategy in it, but that could just be the whisky clouding my mind a little. Depending on how you play the game, you could target one person specifically and get them _really _drunk.

We all nodded our understanding, and Sai and Suigetsu put shit-eating grins on their faces. It was plain and obvious that they were going to get pretty loose tonight. Sai might get decked by someone if he's not careful. If he's _extremely _unlucky he'll get decked by me. The guy talks shit with no filter.

"All right, teme, pick a card." Oh, so we're going counter-clockwise around the circle. Alright. I reached over and grabbed a card, not breaking the circle. "Seven."

"Heaven!" Naruto raised his hands and I was amazed by how fast he moved before mine shot up purely on reflex half a second later. The rest of the table followed his example and the last to raise his hands was Sai because he was well on his way to his first black-out of the night and his reaction time was clearly suffering first.

You know… if we get attacked tonight, he's useless. It's all on Juugo tonight to guard us. At least I knew I could trust him. He cared about Konoha, Sakura, me and Naruto. More reassuring was the fact that he'd defend Sakura, probably to his last dying breath if it ever came to that…

…

I'd honestly defend her too, drunk or not…

"Sai has to drink because he threw his hands up last." Naruto explained. "You guys get it?" He asked, making eye contact with the entire room and registering all the nods that responded.

"Yeah, just tell us what all the cards mean." Ino replied. "I want to be ready just in case we have to do something like that again." She replied as she took a swig from her bottle.

"Ew Sakura, this whiskey you picked is shit." She commented, voicing my initial thoughts on the beverage. I shot her a smile to which she caught by the corner of her eye and smiled back. Sakura looked shocked and offended. She dramatically placed a hand on her chest as she began to rebuke Ino.

"It's special from _Kusa_ you pig! This is one of _the best—_

"_Alright_-ttebayo! Listen up, here goes—

Naruto interrupted the argument, thankfully. Sakura glared at him, but to my surprise he _ignored_ her. He actually _ignored _her… that was one hell of a sight to see. Eight years ago if you ever told me Naruto would _ignore_ Sakura, I'd fucking laugh in your face and walk away. How the tides have changed…

"—two is _you_. We went over that one.

Three is _me_. You drink. Only you.

Four is _floor_. Last one to touch the floor drinks.

Five is _guys_; all guys drink.

Six is _chicks_. All girls drink.

Seven is _heaven_. We did that one already.

Eight is _pick a date_. You pick a person to be your "date". Every time you drink, that person has to drink too, even if he already drank on the turn.

Nine is _rhyme_. The person who picked the card says a word and we go around the circle picking words that rhyme with that word. The first one that can't make something up quick enough loses and drinks. You can't use orange. That's genin bullshit and it isn't tolerated here.

The jack is _never have I ever_. This one is fun, because you say something you've never done, trying to get as many people you think have done it to drink as possible.

Queen is _questions_. We go around the circle asking each other a question; any question. _No one can answer_. The first person who answers or pauses for too long drinks.

Ace is _waterfall_. Say, for example, I draw an ace. I start drinking…then right after I start, Kakashi-sensei has to start, then after him, Sai-baka has to start and so on. Everyone keeps drinking until I stop. When I stop, Kakashi-sensei has to stop and when he stops Sai has to stop, and so on, so the drinking and finishing process starts and ends in a waterfall-like pattern.

And finally, the King card. The person who draws it can make a ridiculous rule everyone in the circle has to obey during the entire game. Any questions?" He asked at the end and made eye contact with everyone at the table. We all shook our heads. It was pretty straight-forward.

"Alright! Let's play!" Sakura fist pumped, excited to get to the game. Her drink sloshed in her bottle audibly as Ino grinned next to her. The entire table seemed eager to start. I have to say, even I was uncharacteristically excited to play. I never had time to drink with any of the squads since I was always out on missions, so at least the next time I _do_ have an opportunity, I won't be a novice at games like Kings.

"Yosh! It's my turn so I'll draw." Naruto pulled up a card. It was a three of clubs. Naruto frowned. "Meh, boring." He sipped his drink with an annoyed expression and carefully placed the card on top of the pile when he pulled his whiskey bottle away from his lips. Wordlessly, Kakashi picked up a card; it would be interesting to see him drink through his mask. If he gets drunk enough, we might be able to actually convince him to take it off.

I resisted the urge to shift my eyes to Sakura; hadn't I promised that we'd do something like that on her birthday at Hofuku? I forgot. Either way, Sakura might help us see his face this time. Naruto and I can only go so far before Kakashi realizes it and Sakura's bound to have some tricks up her sleeve. I smirked evilly. Tonight was going to be fun.

"Four." Kakashi drawled too slowly. My hands hit the floor so hard the earth must have shook because someone fell off-balance and hit their head on the table. I looked up and saw Suigetsu rubbing his head with red cheeks and a grimace. He wasn't going to last too long at this rate.

"Ow, _fuuuuuuuck_!" He whined. "Shit." He cursed.

"Drunk already!? I thought you said you could hold your liquor, fish-pussy." Sai asked with a red face. He was asking for a beating… really.

"Fuck off, newspaper!" Suigetsu groaned as he leaned back in his seat. It took me a second of thinking before I realized the insult was about Sai's black and white appearance. I snorted and started to laugh. Sai glared at me from across our group's circle. I defiantly smirked back. It was on from here on out. Sai's going down.

"Ino you were late!" Sakura declared like some sort of drunken sensei before anyone else could register Suigetsu's thought-out insult. "Drink." She commanded, pointing an accusing finger at the blonde. Ino rolled her eyes, gave her the finger and sipped. Sai picked up the next card.

"Five." I lifted my whiskey. Guys.

"Waitwaitwait_wait_." Naruto waved his hands and stopped all the men in the room from drinking. Ino, Sakura and Karin blinked at him.

"This is a toast from us to Sakura-chan!" He grinned and lifted his bottle. I smirked and lifted mine, and so did the others one by one. Sakura blushed quite adorably and then we drank. The girls lifted their glasses and drank to Sakura as well. I haven't seen her this happy since we were twelve.

When Ino pulled her bottle away from her mouth, she reached over and slid a card out of the pile, dragged it across the glass tabletop and flipped it over. "Oooooh. I picked a Jack." She revealed and placed her card on the fi— _vase_. She sighed in an accomplished manner and her eyes darted around the room as she gathered her thoughts, turning her drink in her hands, slowly.

"Never have I ever…slept with someone from Kiri." She smirked.

Shit. Caught red-handed.

Slowly, I raised my bottle. I was the first and for a moment, I was embarrassed until Sakura bashfully raised hers. Of course she slept with someone from Kiri. I almost forgot that she dated bartender guy. He was from Kiri, if I remember correctly. Suigetsu whistled at us both before he tipped his bottle back and took a huge gulp.

"Damn, Pink, if you liked water that much I could've helped make you we—

Karin stepped on his foot and he yelped, his expression morphing into one stuck between horror and anger. Kakashi slowly tilted back his bottle, now that the ice was sort of broken. None of us were surprised at his silent admission. Anbu took many missions outside of the country…sometimes the atrocities we committed could only be dealt with through sex and other less-than-virtuous means. A couple of heartbeats later, when it was clear that the four of us were the only ones who had fun in Kiri, Karin picked up a card.

"Ten. Catergories. Weapons, no ordinary items like paintbrushes and chairs or jutsu allowed." Naruto beamed at her for saving him the time of adding that stipulation. If all of those were allowed we'd be here all night. To a shinobi, a fucking pencil could be turned into a deadly tool. I've decapitated someone with a chopstick before. "Starting with Kunai." She added and turned her head to Suigetsu.

"Swords." Suigetsu turned his head to Sakura.

"Tessen." She turned her head to me.

"Shuriken." I glanced at Naruto.

"Tanto."

"Kusarigama." Kakashi drawled.

"Tekko." Sai responded blandly, drinking even though he didn't need to. That wasn't against the rules, though.

"Jitte." Ino grinned.

"Nunchaku." Karin responded confidently.

"Um…"

We all looked at Suigetsu.

"Fuck!" He cursed.

He couldn't think of one we hadn't mentioned and he drank.

"You could have said Naginata…" Sakura supplied calmly. Suigetsu tried to open his mouth and talk while his whiskey bottle was still in his mouth and he ended up coughing and choking on his drink but Naruto interrupted before Sakura or anyone else could laugh at him.

"Oh! I forgot one important thing!" Naruto shouted, interrupting any reactions to Suigetsu's gaffe. We all looked at Naruto, waiting for instruction. This was _his_ game, after all.

"You can't repeat anything. So if Suigetsu had repeated 'kunai,' which is what Karin already mentioned, he'd be assed out, got it?" He explained.

"Rodger that." Sakura mock-saluted and then picked up a card.

"Kakshi-sensei, you're my date tonight." She grinned as she held up an eight of clubs. Kakashi grinned beneath his mask as Sakura drank. He lifted his bottle and drank in tandem with her as she placed the card on top of the pile. I picked up a card…and then turned to Naruto, grinning. I'd let this one be a surprise. Everyone else could suck it if they didn't catch on quickly enough.

"What time is it?" I asked him, and he opened his mouth…the urge to respond was evident on his face but I smirked prematurely as he whipped his head towards Kakashi with great effort and asked him a question instead.

"Where is Konoha?" Lame question, but a question nonetheless. Kakashi didn't miss a beat.

"Why are you drunk?" He asked Sai. Sai glared, and turned to Ino, he still had enough control to not slip up.

"When are we going to have sex?"

"Wh-what kind of question is that!?" Ino shrieked, red in the face. I snorted and Naruto hollered with laughter. Sakura giggled behind a delicate hand and Sai grinned at her with red cheeks.

"Drink." I commanded. She glared at me, and then shot Sai a poisonous look.

"Sleep with one eye open, Sai…" She threatened.

"Don't worry. I'll keep both eyes open tonight." He perversely shot back with a grin. She gaped at him but picked up a card anyway after shaking her head. Who knew Sai would be so…public? He was really reserved with Ino last time I saw them together at Ichiraku's. But I wasn't surprised, he was _drunk_. He was doing a good job of keeping up sober-_ish _appearances, but he was still drunk.

"Ladies, bottoms up!" Ino declared and placed the six of diamonds on the fishbowl. Fuck it, whatever. It _does_ look like a fishbowl…after a couple of drinks. The three women in the room drank, and Kakashi drank in tandem with Sakura, the latter smirking smugly. I smirked too… despite being separated for so many years, Sakura, Naruto and I still had relatively the same thoughts and ideas. Kakashi's mask was coming off tonight… without fail. Someone turned up the volume on the radio and Juugo bulshed as we all turned our heads toward him. At least he was having some fun too, aside from watching us make fools of ourselves. He ambled over to the kitchen to get more cake and food, but I saw the slight gleam in his eyes. He was going to _help_ us become as idiotic as possible. I smirked at him. He caught me and smirked back.

"Nine! Blue!" Karin voiced over the louder music. It wasn't _that_ loud, but we'd have to speak up from now on.

"You." Suigetsu rhymed.

"Through." Sakura blinked and turned to me.

"True." I replied. Sakura smiled, I did too. It sounded like I was affirming what she just said. Little things like that became funny with a little bit of alcohol in the system.

"Grew-" Naruto excitedly shouted as he took a huge swig of his whiskey bottle and sighed with satisfaction. "-ttebayo!"

"Flew." Kakashi intoned. He, too, threw caution to the wind and drank, so I did too. Fuck it we might as well drink while we're bored. A fast-paced but melancholy song began to play and Sakura bobbed her head as Sai replied.

"Drew." He smirked.

"Um, fuck, _brew!_" Ino scrambled, saving her own ass by a fraction of a second.

Karin didn't even bother she just tipped the bottle back and took an exaggerated swig. Suigetsu picked up a card and smirked. He showed us a Jack of clubs.

"Never have I ever…" He paused and frowned with a frustrated expression as he grabbed his chin in thought. "...fuck… this is harder than I thought." He looked down to concentrate better. It was probably difficult for him to focus his thoughts with everything that was going on _and_ the loud music in the background. He took quite a few moments to think. I got bored and started to drink. Naruto, antsy as ever, tapped his foot. Apparently Suigetsu wasn't the picture of morality…who could have _possibly_ known? I rolled my eyes.

"Hurry up, will you? We don't have all night." Sakura growled, losing her patience first. He shot her a miffed glare.

"Fuck you later, pink. Never have I ever kissed a guy." He spat out definitively and stuck his middle finger at Sakura. She smirked, her bold confidence practically shouting "fuck you too" in response.

"Thanks for the drink." She slyly replied and lifted her bottle of whiskey to emphasize her point. Naruto and I looked at each other…

Fuck…

He shrugged, and after a moment of deliberation, I did too. If he was going to be honest, I would be too.

We both drank.

"Eeeeeeh!?" Karin shouted and shoved a finger in our direction. "Since when did _you_ kiss a guy, Sasuke— Naru_to_?!" She questioned, shock and redness all over her face.

"Eh…heh-heh… Well…you see…" Naruto struggled to find the right words, or rather, the right explanation as he rubbed the back of his head, nervously.

"Sasuke and Naruto are each other's first kiss!" Sakura blatantly blurted with a smile and a laugh that I glared at her for. "Even if it was a total accident…all the shonen ai fangirls in class went crazy." She snickered.

Ino joined her in humiliating us, of course. Sakura's insult wouldn't be complete without Ino backing her up with a confident burst of laughter. Naruto tried to hide his grimace by drinking, but it was still painfully evident on his face. I took a swig to numb myself to the embarrassment as well. "Even the ones who hated Naruto back then couldn't deny that it was hot seeing Uchiha Sasuke kiss a guy!" Ino winked and stuck her tongue out for emphasis.

Suigetsu burst into laughter, pointing at me.

"Ah man, if only I knew _that _when I first met you! I woudn't have listened to you half as much! HAHAHAHAHAHA"

Fuck him. I took a breath to spit something poisonous at him, but Sai ran over my sentence and by the time I caught up to the moment I had already forgotten what to say. Son of a bitch.

"So…panty-waste _is_ gay… Though, I never thought _you_ would be, traitor…interesting." He blandly spoke and took a swig.

"Shut the fuck up. You know as well as I do that I'm into women." I retorted. We had this conversation at his apartment.

"Yeah! What he said!" Naruto chimed in to defend himself.

"You are still gay, Naruto." Sai finalized in almost an authoritative tone, as if he were stating that the sky would be blue no matter what. I snorted and Naruto shoved me so hard my ass skidded across the chair I was in. Sakura pushed me back into a seated position before I could accidentally knock us both over. Shit was about to get real.

"Fuck you, Sai." Naruto growled.

"Sorry, I'm booked for the night." Sai retorted.

"RRRrragh!"

Some song with guitars and flutes started playing. Interesting.

"Shonen ninja!" Ino squealed like a fangirl. I rolled my eyes. What was so special about this boy-band anyway?

"_Kami-sama_, Hinata-chan likes them too, what makes them so special, anyway?" Naruto muttered jealously.

"Their music is good. Stop being jealous." Sakura shot back and grinned as she picked up a card.

"Waterfall. Drink up sweethearts." Sakura tipped her glass back. I waited until she started to gulp to drink. Naruto followed me, and then after him Kakashi, Sai, Ino, Karin and finally Suigetsu. I thought once the circle ended Sakura would stop, but…she didn't and my throat was starting to burn as I watched her from the corner of my eye. Ino gave a pained grunt and I saw her making a hand motion in front of her throat, begging Sakura to stop. Slowly, Sakura lowered her bottle. I lowered mine as soon as I could after her, then Naruto after me. The circle got a little fucked up because almost everyone after Naruto just disengaged from their bottles as soon as possible. Sakura cackled.

"You're all weak!" She insulted with an air of superiority we knew she only half meant.

"No shit, Pink. You can fucking drink. Any chance you'll get drunk enough to fuck tonight?"

Not with you, Suigetsu.

"Shove it. If I fuck it won't be you. I'd rather have a threesome with Ino and Sai."

Well, shit. Was she into that? I don't know how to feel about _that_.

"That can be arranged, ugly." Sai smirked before Suigetsu could respond, _still_ drinking. He was fucking going hard tonight.

"Whoa now…" Ino intoned with a blush on her face that I knew wasn't only from the alcohol.

"Damn, you Konoha motherfuckers are wild, huh? When can I join?" Suigetsu asked as he gulped down more of his drink.

"Ask the future rokudaime-sama." Kakashi majestically waved a hand towards Naruto. He had a small blush blooming on his cheeks. Perfect… that mask is one step closer from being torn the fuck off.

"Eh!? _You're _gonna be hokage!?" Suigetsu's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. I didn't think I could see more purple on another person aside from Ino.

"Duh—ttebayo." Naruto took a 'too-cool-for-you' swig of his whiskey and grinned at Suigetsu.

"You're friendly as fucking hell how is that even right!? A kage is supposed to be terrifying! You're…fucking fluffy." My former teammate gaped.

"Naruto took out _my_ ancestor _and_ the crazy bitch that enthralled the entire world in a never-ending, soul-sucking genjutsu." I flatly defended my brother. "Fluffy or not, he can fuck anyone's day up on the battlefield." I stated factually. Naruto let out a short laugh, and held out his fist. We tapped knuckles and listened as Suigetsu scratched the back of his head and spoke.

"Damn, I was further out in the field I didn't see what happened that day, aside from maybe some really trippy dreams. Congrats, man. Anyway, yeah, threesomes, can I join?" He asked with a shark-toothed grin, getting back on topic.

Naruto threw his head back and laughed.

"Sure, stop by Konoha in three months and fill out some paperwork. I'll do a couple of background and psychology checks—you seem pretty level-headed so you'll probably pass— and then I'll let you know." He grinned.

"You're too friendly, Naruto. I'm failing his psychology test preemptively, so don't even bother." Ino huffed.

"Hey, if the man wants to join the ranks, why not? Besides he has friends here. Teme, Karin and Juugo probably won't mind, na Sasuke?"

"If you can hide the women, I think it'll be fine." I responded.

The rest of the circle laughed, including Suigetsu, even though he was laughing at himself and I picked up a card. Man… my face is kinda numb… I should probably stop, this drink is strong enough as it is…but… fuck it… why not? One night of alcohol isn't that bad… Sakura will probably do something about the acidity in my gut tomorrow morning anyway. As anbu, and as captain of this mission… well, shit… we're breaking rules left and right, but Tsunade bought the alcohol so it's technically sanctioned, right? Besides, it's not like there isn't _some_ degree of protocol. Like I said, Juugo is in charge of safety and security…

Right… keep telling your responsibilities that, Sasuke.

I picked up a ten. Categories.

"All right, teme pick something good!" Naruto practically cheered as he clapped a hand over my back and shook my lungs almost enough to make me cough.

Had I said 'categories' out loud? _Fuck_. I'm losing track of what I'm saying and what I'm not.

I smirked. That isn't so bad though, is it? When's the last time Naruto and I drank properly? Plus, this next category was going to be…interesting to say the least.

"The category is sex positions. Missionary. Go."

Naruto whistled wolfishly.

"Cowgirl."

I guess he lost his virginity.

"Doggy." Kakashi drawled. Sakura snorted. It was fitting. His summons _are_ dogs. Even if that wasn't his preferred position with Kurenai, it was still laughable that he chose it.

"I can't wait to see what comes to your mind first when it's your turn, Sakura." He deadpanned with a grin for her snort and she blushed, but smirked.

"Better than doggy, I promise." She winked and I smirked. She could sure bring some game to the table. Who knew she could talk shit with the best of us?

"Seated." Sai replied. All right, not bad.

"Standing." Ino supplied. Not bad, either.

"Anal." Karin shrugged.

…

"Butterfly; hits the spot, just right." Suigetsu smirked. He wasn't wrong. They liked it best with their legs on your shoulders.

"Stopperage." Sakura dished out.

...Huh?

"Eh? Sakura-chan?" Naruto blinked.

"Yeah, what?" I asked, confused. What the _fuck_ is "stopperage"?

She smirked at me smugly. "Drink, Uchiha."

Shit. She got me. It was my turn and I paused for too long. I shot her a petulant glare, but drank, keeping my eyes on her.

"So what's "stopperage"..." I paused and smirked. "…_ero_-shoujo...?" I asked when I was done drinking. She laughed at me and stuck her tongue out.

"Same as butterfly, except the knees are against his chest. Penetration from above." Kakashi explained, ever the wise one. "Not bad, Sakura. You promised and delivered."

"_Ohhhh_." We all replied collectively. _That's _what that's called? Well…shit.

"_That's_ what that's called?" Naruto asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Kami-sama, for so-called non-virgins, you guys have _no _idea what you're doing, huh?" Sakura shook her head. I took offense to that. Time to correct her.

"You don't have time to analyze the names of sex positions in the moment, they're not _jutsu_. You just _do_ it and worry about the details later." I laid into her and I heard Naruto suck in a surprised breath so quietly only Kakashi and I could possibly hear him.

"Mn, yeah true that; no pregnancy, no problem. The rest is just background info." Suigetsu agreed.

"I'm analytical; you think I could help it?" Sakura shot back with a blush, half-offended. I wasn't sure if her cheeks were red because of the liquor or because of the topic. I smirked. I win. Sasuke: 1, Sakura: 0.

"To each his own." I mercifully replied with a shrug, ending the topic. "Naruto, go." I placed the card on top of the fishbowl, balancing it carefully.

"Fuck _YES! _King of hearts, guys, ready for this one?" Naruto asked with an excited, shit-eating grin. We all nodded, anticipating absolute insanity. "This one is my personal favorite; I pull it on baa-chan and Shizune-chan _all_ the time." He grinned.

"Ah, so _that's_ what goes on at the kage tower late at night…" Kakashi spoke with a sarcastic epiphany to his tone.

"Hey, paperwork is boring sometimes. Daimyo needs this— the capitol wants that— blah blah _blah_." He waved his hand, effectively waving away the subject. "_Anyway_, this one is called the "table of shame". He who loses, shall place his temple upon the table in utter shame until the next victim takes his place. He must still drink, if it is required of him." Naruto dictated in a ye olde manner. "Effective now." He commanded with a puffed chest. If you placed a crown on his head he'd look like one of those kings in his stupid ero fantasy show... with a Konoha hita-ate on his forehead. I snorted. Naruto snickered and took a big drink.

"Fuck-ttebayo, I ran out." He frowned, and then hiccuped, slapping a hand over his mouth and turning red.

"Naruto-san, catch!"

A bottle of liquor flew at Naruto's head. He plucked it out of the air as easily as he would a shuriken and looked at the label. He whistled.

"Kumo pineapple liquor. Nice pick, Juugo! Arigato!" That put a smile on his face. Juugo grinned back, happy to be of help.

"Throw one of those over here, please, I'm almost out." I voiced. Juugo nodded and grinned.

"Duck." I instructed Sakura. She had been murmuring something to Ino, not paying attention.

"Eh?" She blinked at me, just tuning into the situation. I didn't have time to explain, the bottle was already flying straight for her head on its way to me. Juugo cringed and paled, his eyes horrified.

I placed my hand on top of her head and shoved her towards my thigh just as I partially stood out of my seat and grabbed the bottle, saving her just in time.

"Sasu-_ke_ get your fucking hand off of the back of my _fucking _head!" She decked the side of my thigh. I snorted even though she almost gave me a kami-forsaken Charlie horse.

"Maybe I like my hand at the back of your head…" I smoothly replied before I could stop myself. Oops.

"Ooooooooh." Naruto cooed next to me like a little academy girl that just discovered her classmate's dirty secret.

_Fuck_. _That_ slipped out. I did _not_ mean to say that. I did _not_ fucking mean to imply that. Shitshit_shit_.

"That sounds like a challenge." Kakashi drawled, trying to save me by gearing up Sakura's ever-present need for a fight. Thank kami-sama for Kakashi, but I'm not out of the fire yet. It would take _much _more to correct that.

"Nah, that sounds like a fucking pick-up line to me. Good one, too, Sasuke." Suigetsu blatantly fucked me as Sakura growled beneath me. Two seconds later, the wind was knocked out of me. Air rushed out of my lungs and it was all I could do to _not_ lose all the alcohol I drank across the table. _Fuck_ Sakura hits _hard_. My hand slid off of her hair and instead covered my gut as I doubled over in my chair.

Itai…

"Take that, _teme_!" Sakura gruffed, using Naruto's favorite insult. I coughed.

Please don't throw up here, Sasuke. Please don't. I took a calming breath that steadied my quivering gastrointestinal system. I coughed twice and cleared my throat of some of the spit that made its way down the wrong pipe when she blind-sighted me.

"Itte~h..." I wheezed with a glare in her direction. "I was trying to keep your head from cracking open!" I growled when I regained control of the situation.

"You deserved it for that bullshit comment." She hissed back, green eyes angry, but shining with something _interesting_. Was that _enjoyment _ I saw behind the venom and acid in her expression? I fought back a responding smirk.

Naruto picked up a card, interrupting yet another argument. He was getting even better at peace-keeping nowadays. His head snapped to Kakashi so fast I swear I heard his neck crack.

"Why… am I talking?" He paused for just a breath as he thought of a question off the top of his head. Kakashi's one eye— I don't know why he still keeps his other one covered— slid left and right before he turned to Sai.

"Do you like red?" He asked.

"Why are you asking?" Sai asked Ino.

"What…are you talking about?" Ino asked Karin, pausing only to remind herself to _not_ answer.

"Why… can't I find something to say?" Ino queried.

"How do you like it?" Suigetsu asked Sakura.

Sakura snorted, but turned to me.

"Why…is your hair black?"

I turned to Naruto.

"When…" I blanked out.

Shit.

What did I want to ask?

Naruto laughed.

"_Drink_ teme! And put your fucking head on the table. IT IS TIME TO CHRISTEN THE TABLE OF SHAME! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed triumphantly, stars in his eyes. He was _so_ happy about his stupid rule.

I took a swig and glared at Naruto, promising him certain revenge. We were all thoroughly getting wasted now. Most of us were definitely buzzed.

"Come on, Sasuke." Kakashi drawled as he hovered his hand over the circle of cards on the table.

"The royal table of shame awaits you, teme." Naruto snickered rubbing more salt into the wound.

"You're next, motherfucker." I promised as I knelt on the carpet and placed my temple against the glass.

I thought it would suck being here, but I'll take the table of shame any day. I had a _fantastic _view of Sakura's legs here. Thanks Naruto… for being creative. I resisted the urge to look okay with being here.

Kakashi picked up a card, swatting some of my hair away from the circle of cards. It must've been a three because I heard him place it on the fishbowl and drink. Sai picked up a card, I guess. I had no fucking clue what was going on to my right.

"You."

Ino drank, so I guess Sai picked up a two.

Ino picked up a card and immediately shot towards the floor. I wasn't late, of course, being _so_ _fucking_ intimately connected to the floor as I was… but _Naruto_ missed a beat and touched it last, probably because I was partially in his way.

"Fuck." The blonde cursed.

"Put your head on the table of shame, _hokage-sama_. I have warmed it _just for you_." I smugly sneered as I got up, careful to not knock any cards over with my hair. How pompous he was when I suffered. The payback gave me more satisfaction than I thought it would.

He leered at me through thin-slitted blue eyes, knelt down and put his right temple on the table so he was facing me. His stare was mildly creepy because he wasn't looking away…at all. I felt his fucking eyes on the side of my face as I took a nervous swig, finishing off my whiskey and setting the bottle aside. I opened the pineapple kumo drink Juugo tossed to me before.

"Creeped out yet, teme?" Naruto smirked, making sure I was still aware of him. I hope he gets something in his eye.

"Piss off, dobe." His failed attempt at revenge could suck it; I was overdue for a blowjob anyway. Karin plucked a card from the circle. I prayed it was one of those that would prolong Naruto's time on the table of shame. Kami-sama answered my prayers when Karin picked a three and drank. Suigetsu picked a three after her and drank.

I smirked smugly to myself.

"Eh!? Come on! Two in a row!? Pick something and make someone lose already!" Naruto whined from his place on the table, his breath creating a fog on the glass in front of his mouth.

"He~eh, are you already dissatisfied with your table your majesty?" Kakashi drawled and I shot him a smirk.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto blubbered, fake, fat tears streaming down his cheeks. He was damn good at crying on command. "You too?"

"Aa. Me too. You deserve it. It's _your_ rule." He replied coldly, pointing a lazy, accusing finger at him.

Sakura picked up a card and placed it on the fishbowl.

"Sai, drink up." And he did.

I lifted a card.

"Sakura. Drink."

She drank and surprisingly, somehow Kakashi remembered that he was supposed to drink too. I forgot about that already.

Naruto growled as he lifted an arm, tried to grab a card… and failed, ruining the circle around the chalice.

"Hahhahah! You broke the circle! Drink everything, fluffy!" Suigetsu shouted, pointing and laughing at Naruto. The blonde grimaced but lifted his bottle and tried, to the best of his ability, to drink sideways. Naturally, he failed. Some of the shit went into his mouth, the rest flowed out and over the table, onto his chin and collar and…just ew.

"Gross…Naruto…" Sakura grimaced. Naruto finished his drink just as Kakashi passed him another already-open bottle, courtesy of Juugo.

"Rrragh! Fuck you guys!" Naruto took a breath after he finished making his mess. "Hand me a fucking card!"

I reached over and Naruto thwacked my wrist with his _full_ bottle of liquor.

"Not _you_. You're being a prick." He sniffed.

"I didn't do anything. _You_ fucked yourself over. Want my help or not?" I asked, hovering a hand near the broken circle of cards.

He seemed to mull it over and closed his eyes, then nodded as best as he could, smearing his face-oils over the glass and mushing the liquor on it into his hair. Sai scrunched his nose from across the circle.

"Make it a good one." Naruto ordered.

I nodded and picked up a card for him.

"It's a two." I told him.

"HAH! Drink Kakashi-sensei!" He cried victoriously. That was clearly revenge for Kakashi's coldness earlier.

"Hai, haaii…" Kakashi was well on his way to that magical place team seven wanted him to be in to get him to strip off his mask. I smirked as I watched him take another sip through that damnable cloth and pick up a card. Another two.

"Drink, Naruto." Vengeance is a dish best served cold, they say.

Sadistic bastard. But it would be fun to see Naruto drink sideways again.

"You suck…" He cried, but then steeled himself, taking a deep breath. "Alright."

He awkwardly tipped the bottle back, and drank whatever didn't spill on the table. I'm not going to be the one to shine it tomorrow morning. Fuck that. Sai picked up a card.

"Gentlemen…" He said, and raised his bottle. When did Juugo get him pinaple liquor? He must've passed out some drinks while I was on the table. Naruto groaned.

I drank and then snickered as Naruto spilled more alcohol from the corner of his mouth onto the table.

"At this rate you're going to soak the whole table, Naruto." Sakura frowned as she watched the liquor drip onto the carpet. Why did Suigetsu and I clean again?

"I don't care, it's not my house." Naruto shrugged.

I used the same excuse to threaten Suigetsu earlier. We should _not_ have cleaned. It _isn't_ my house, even though I'm going to be living in it for a while… what the fuck have I done? What a waste of time and effort…

"Just don't soak the cards. I'd rather not pick up something soaked in spit and booze." Karin grimaced. Naruto chuckled.

"Yosh, it's settled, then! I'll leak _extra_ alcohol out all over your side of the table, nee-chan." Naruto shot her a disarming smile to which she rolled her eyes at as Ino drew a card. She smirked evilly as she flicked the card over to show us. It was a king…

Fuck… Ino and authority were two things better left separated. I sucked in a breath, prepared for the shit Ino was about to give us.

"Alright! Listen up! This rule is called 'redemption'! Every loser gets to become a winner by kissing Sakura before they visit the table of shame. Any questions?" She grinned and watched as smiles bloomed throughout our group. Sakura, however, frantically objected.

"O-Oi! I don't want to be made out with!" Red-faced, she snapped a finger at Ino, who smirked smugly. Upon looking at Sakura's horror-stricken face, however, she relented... a little.

"Alright, alright. A kiss on the cheek only is _recommended_. Fair?" She asked with a raised, blonde eyebrow.

Sakura took a breath to argue, but Karin had already picked up a card, familiar with the diversion tactic that seemed to placate Sakura. She dropped to the floor, wordlessly. Talk about competition. Karin was determined to avoid the table for as long as possible.

Kakashi lost just as Sai hit his arm against the glass and rocked the table. We all watched the cards atop the fishbowl shift a little with bated breath. Naruto paled. He looked _afraid_. I would be scared, too. If I had an entire fishbowl filled with alcohol shaking next to my head. To his luck both the cards and the fishbowl held fast. Naruto let out a relieved breath.

"Kiss and shame!" Ino called out with a cackle. She was enjoying her rule a little _too_ much.

"Yare, yare." Kakashi got up, placed his drink atop the half-soaked table and made his way over to Sakura with surprising grace for someone clearly buzzed.

"Don't tell Kurenai." He drawled in what _kinda_ sounded like a husky tone. Naruto and I made eye contact…he was just as suspicious as I was. We both narrowed our eyes.

"E-eh!? Why would I—

Kakashi bent down, gently held onto her shoulder and pecked her on the cheek. Sakura's entire face lit up red.

"S-sensei!"

Kakashi straightened and grinned at her, his one eye crinkling shut. He motioned for Naruto to get up off the table and grimaced as he placed the side of his face onto the liquor Naruto had previously spilled just as said blonde snickered while wiping excess booze off of his cheek onto his sleeve.

"So, how does it—

"_Shut_ your mouth, Naruto..ne?" Kakashi smiled in a seemingly calm manner, but Naruto shuddered. Kakashi was still threatening, even _if_ Naruto and I were technically stronger than him.

"H-hai…"

"Heaven!" Suigetsu shouted. When the _fuck_ had he picked up a card?

"Eh?" Sai drawled. "Fuck." He frowned when he realized he was the only one with his arms down. He sighed, shook his head and got up. He swayed a little and Ino looked worried for his safety before he ambled over to Sakura.

He _looked_ lightheaded. Sakura looked…almost scared. I'm surprised Ino hasn't stopped her rule yet. She and Sai must have a lot of trust for each other. I wanted Sakura and I to be that way… I frowned to myself as he caught himself on the shoulders of her chair and leaned over her, obscuring her from view. Sakura seemed to shrink back from him.

"Oi, Sai; Ino said a peck on the cheek, not a full-on lap dance." Sakura poked fun wryly…but she really shouldn't have…

"But you would like that, wouldn't you…ero-ugly?"

Sakura growled.

"Open your mouth one more time, Sai, I dar—

He kissed her on the cheek.

"Just enjoy tonight." He whispered something inaudible in her ear that made me angry to not hear, especially since Sakura laughed afterwards.

"Alright, alright. Go relieve Kaka-sensei from his trauma." She waved Sai off and a telltale "poof" notified us that Kakashi had used a clone. He suddenly appeared in his chair, spotless. Bastard.

"Oi!" Naruto growled, pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi. "_NO CLONES! That's not fair!_" He screeched, overly offended.

"Aa, from this moment no clones." I agreed. That really _was_ bullshit. The circle nodded in agreement and Sai dropped to his knees at the table by his spot, making _direct _eye contact with me.. and smirking. I glared at him from antagonizing me. I did _not_ like him whispering into Sakura's ear like that and he _knew _it. He did it on _purpose_.

My jealousy and hostility was irrational. Completely and totally fucking irrational, but I couldn't help feeling that way, and the alcohol made it even harder for me to control my emotions. Looking at him, I could tell he was smug that I was stressing over what he did. … He better hope he doesn't fall asleep with his shoes on… smug bastard.

Sakura picked up a card and smiled.

"Nine. Yellow." She stated defiantly.

"Fellow." I replied and turned to Naruto.

"Um…cello?"

Acceptable. Naruto looked at Kakashi.

"Bellow." He drawled. It still wasn't fair that he used a shadow clone. leave it to Kakashi to find a way around the rules.

"Mellow." Sai blabbed from his spot on the table, lucky that the table was clean on his side.

"Fa— lello? Fuck it I give up." Ino grumbled. Sai smirked from his position on the table. Ino stood, walked over to Sakura, affectionately kissed her on the cheek, walked back to her spot and placed her head on the table as Sai got up and sat back in his seat. Not going to lie, Ino kissing Sakura was hot. Even if it was just on the cheek. Speaking of cheeks, mine heated up.

I picked up a card. Waterfall.

"Ace." I lifted my bottle.

"Nooooooo! You suck Sasukeeee!" Ino cried in horror, interrupting me. She'd have to drink sideways… and mess up the table on her side. She looked pale as Naruto snickered next to me.

"I won't apologize." I mentioned frankly and drank. When I stopped drinking I noticed that Ino hadn't spilled that much. She had puckered her lips and drank as slowly as possible. Smart girl.

"Eh! No fair! Her hair isn't even wet! What gives-ttebayo!" Naruto shouted, glass bottle in one hand, finger pointed accusingly at a smug Ino.

"It's not her fault you're messy." Sai defended his girlfriend as Suigetsu cackled.

"She showed you, fluffy."

"Shut up or I'll revoke your right to a citizenship!" Naruto hollered back, offended and embarrassed. Then, he picked up a jack and snickered.

"Heh. Never have I ever…" He thought about it a moment. I just started drinking.

"…Never have I ever been on the giving or receiving end of anal sex."

Well, shit.

I drank. Kakashi drank. Sai drank. Horrified, Ino drank. Suigetsu drank as Karin shook her head, and blushing, Sakura drank too.

Naruto was packing some serious power tonight.

Kakashi picked up a card.

"What is…yellow?" He asked Sai.

"Where is your shirt?" Sai asked Ino.

"Karin how old are you?" Ino called from her shameful place on the table. I have to hand it to her, she wasn't complaining about being there for this long.

"Where is your mom?" Karin asked Suigetsu.

"What color is the moon?" Suigetsu asked Sakura.

"How… do you clean?" Sakura asked me. Damn, we were all keeping up.

"Can… we go swimming?" I asked Naruto.

"Is the clock red?" Naruto asked Kakashi.

"How can you be so sure?" Kakashi asked Sai.

"Where are you talking about?"

Sai asked Ino, who snorted.

"Are your panties pink?" Ino asked Karin.

"Why is blue…blue?" Karin quickly shot to Suigetsu.

"When…will we die?" Suigetsu asked Sakura.

"Sasuke, do you like tomatoes?"

"Ye—

Fuck. Sakura stuck her tongue out. She _got_ me, but only because I spaced out for a second. I was busy observing and the question sounded so innocent and believable to my sluggish mind... My heart beat in my chest a little faster as I glared at her to keep my feelings from showing on my face. A scintilla of excitement struck me. Kiss and shame, right? Thanks, Ino.

I smirked as I leaned over and brushed her hair aside. Heh, she looked so smug a second ago... she wants to fucking play games? I could play games… I saw the goosebumps form on the skin of her neck and chest.

"I'll get you back…Sa-ku-ra…" I whispered into her ear as I kissed her temple and let the loose strand fall back in its place. She didn't reply, but I _did_ hear her stop breathing.

Heh.

I looked at the table, ignoring Naruto's grin and pulled off my shirt. Just because Naruto made a mess, doesn't mean I have to lay in it. I used my shirt to soak up the liquor on the table.

"EEEEEEEEH!? THAT'S NOT FAIR! WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE ONLY DIRTY ONE!" Naruto screeched. I shrugged as I folded the shirt and placed my head on it.

"Because you're messy." I replied. He flicked the back of my head. It didn't piss me off. No matter what he does or what happens from here on out nothing will ruin my smug, victorious mood, because I finally got a reaction out of Sakura…

….

And I kissed her.

-X-

**READ THIS IF YOU WANT AN UPDATE ON ME AND JUST TO BS THROUGH PMS ABOUT SOMETHING! **

Help me. The honor society sucked me in. I had a thousand papers and assignments and I didn't even get to spend my spring break by myself. Everyone wanted a piece of this sexy ass once they realized I had time. T_T

In all seriousness I've had zero time. I can't wait for April and May to just end. I don't _want _to do all this crap for my school's honor society. I had enough on my plate as it is. There's this big induction ceremony and all these bake sales and shit; I just wanna go home, grab a Smirnoff, or a glass of whiskey on the rocks, or _whatever_ and write! Or read. Or dance and perform concerts in front of my cat in my room. ANYTHING BUT PAPER-WRITING AND BEING A PART OF A LABELED GROUP.

Groups make me uncomfortable. I am probably the most optimistic outwardly social person you will ever meet, but that's just a façade, I swear… inside I'm a lone wolf that doesn't mind being by herself.

But I need this group to possibly _maybe_ get a scholarship and a full ride to a four-year college so I'll have to just deal with it.

**THE REAL ENDING STARTS HERE!  
**

I hope you guys enjoyed this! I miss you all and thank you all for your encouraging reviews. I don't have time to respond, like ever but please know that I _do_ read them and I _do_ love them and I _do_ value and cherish you all for them.

Have a great day and may the semester or school year or work year treat you well!

See ya' later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto ®™


	36. Sakura vs Sasuke and Naruto

KISEKI

|36|

I'm happy to be back. ^_^ Oh! Guess what!

Okay, so I changed my diet. I stop eating foods with added sugar and artificial sugar. I also gave up all grains. Just meat, veggies, fruits and nuts. I lost 11 lbs without having to exercise!

But that's not the best part.

Ready for it….

**TOMATOES ARE SO SWEEEET! **

After like three weeks, my taste buds changed or something, because I was SO hungry (because I was too lazy to buy food) I just bit into a tomato, since I haven't had one in a while and BAM it was sweet! I _actually_ tasted the tomato! It really wasn't bland. I was like OMG O_O

**SASUKE ISN'T CRAZY, GUYS! **

So yeah. lol

Also, I almost got a 4.0 gpa. ALMOST DAMN IT!

-x-

**SAKURA **

"Sasuke! The bowl is _mine_!" I growled as I tugged on the fishbowl he was still holding onto. It was filled to the brim with all of our unfinished drinks.

Yes, I, Haruno Sakura, tipped the cards over. I was starting to get a little drunk and I guess my arm was heavier than I thought it was because the next thing I knew, as I went to place my card on the pile, the cards started falling off the top of the fishbowl, Naruto was laughing and I was cursing. The cards were still all over the floor as everyone was watching us make a scene with the music _still_ booming in the background.

Sasuke glared at me, cheeks red from all the drinking, still shirtless.

"_No_. You're too drunk. No way. Naruto and I will kill it." He argued.

I felt my blood pressure rise.

"Sasu_ke_. Stop _fucking_ around." I warned.

"No, Sa-ku-ra." He sniffed back and pulled on the bowl in his grip. Aggravated, I pulled it back my way. The mixed poison sloshed onto our arms and the carpet, onto his chest and onto my dress. I would be a liar if I said Uchiha Sasuke wasn't hot with beads of liquid shining on his bare skin.

"Eh, he-heh… Sakura-chan, maybe we can all finish it as a team…?"

I snapped my head to Naruto.

"No."

"Yeah".

I whipped my head back towards Sasuke. How _dare _he answer Naruto at the same time as me!

"_No_." I stressed.

"Yes." He demanded.

"No." I repeated. I won't budge.

"Yes." He stated back with a sigh, a bored expression on his stupid, beautiful face. He looked like he was just _waiting_ for me to give in. Like he knew I actually _would_. Tch. Yeah right! Dream on Uchiha!

"No." I replied, frustration building.

"No."

"RRR-YES!" Why won't he stop!?

"Heh." Sasuke smirked.

Fuck.

"That doesn't count!"

"Yes it does!"

"Will you stop!?"

"No!"

"Fuck thissss, 'm bored." Suigetsu grumbled from somewhere behind me. "Yo newspaper! Come an' drink s'more!"

"Sasuke, I _want_ to drink the fishbowl." I tried to explain it to him slowly. Maybe his stubborn Uchiha brain would understand that way.

"So do I."

He's fucking impossible!

"..Eh? Oi… Where'd newspaper go?" Suigetsu asked from somewhere I couldn't see.

"I think they went to fuck, like, five minutes ago." Karin drawled. She sounded like she was in the kitchen.

"Heh," Suigetsu laughed perversely, "wanna hang out like th't too?" He called over the distance between himself and her.

"No." She bluntly answered, as if he were a five year old asking to ride a motorcycle.

"Aw, com'n Karin!" He whined and went to go bitch her out.

Sasuke's fingers were close to mine. If I just use the right amount of chakra…

"Itt-_eh_!"

Hah! I sent a tiny jolt of numbing chakra to his fingers. They loosened a little, aaaaaand bam! The bowl is mi—

"_Nooooooooooooooooooo_!" I screamed as Sasuke threw himself backwards, taking the bowl _and_ me down with him. Thank _Kami-sama_ he fell onto the couch. Somehow the bowl survived. Sasuke must've balanced it _just_ right to keep it from _completely _spilling. I mean, we still got a little soaked by the stuff—some poured down my shirt and was now running in tiny rivers between my boobs— but the entire thing wasn't dropped, at least. He was laying back, arms up with the bowl above his head, which had probably slammed on the arm of the couch, not like he'd feel any pain at this point. I was between his legs, _again_, somehow— Kami-sama has a fucked up sense of humor— and my chin was squished against his solar plexus. I could do a lot of damage if I actually _hit_ his solar plexus, but… I guess we're just not being that serious yet? My thighs felt a little exposed and I prayed that no one was paying attention to us.

"Give up." He commanded faux-sternly. I could tell that he was having fun. His voice didn't have any harshness or bite in its tone.

"Like hell!" I growled and swung an arm to get my hands on the bowl.

Naruto didn't miss a beat. Just as I decided to grip Sasuke's bangs and _pull_ to get my way, Naruto effortlessly swiped the bowl from his hands.

"Oi! Come back here!" I started to push myself off of him to go after Naruto, but before I could move, he trapped my waist _and _my arms and… I was stuck.

"Ugh! IN_O_!" I cried. Where the _hell_ was she?

"Yare, yare Sakura."

I was pressed so firmly against Sasuke I had to really struggle to turn my head to look at my traitorous sensei. My other cheek smacked against Sasuke's chest and I glared at sensei as Sasuke snorted at the audible slap my skin made against his.

"Why won't you help!?" I shrieked, trying to wave a trapped arm in his direction. It was going to be hard to breathe soon. I felt like my tiny boobs were weights against my chest. Kakashi sensei placed a hand on his chin in contemplation. I watched him for a second as he deliberated an answer to my question. In the end he just shrugged.

"Well, I don't know." He grinned. "You seem kind of comfortable, actually."

"W-What kind of answer is _that_!?" I shrieked and squirmed as my face heated up. C-_comfortable_!?Sasuke started laughing as sensei walked away.

"You're in good hands, Sakura." Was that…a cryptic tone to his voice or am I just _that drunk? _Kakashi-sensei waved at me as he finally disappeared from my vision.

"Kakashi-san would you like a drink?" Juugo offered from the kitchen in the distance.

"Yeah! Come drink w'us! I bet chuu can't get drunk'r 'an me!" Suigetsu shouted.

"You should probably drink some water… and eat." I heard Karin grumble. "Here, have a yakitori. There's plenty left." She suggested. Maybe Karin will extend a helping hand!

"K-Karin!" I cried. No response. She ignored me. Why is everyone ditching me?! What the _hell_!?

"Scared, Sa-ku-ra?" Sasuke's voice vibrated in his chest. I blushed. He sounded _really_ good.

"N-_no!_" I growled. "Like _hell_! Why would I be?! Now let me go so I can drink the fishbowl!"

"Only if you drink it with Naruto and me." He stubbornly declared.

"But it's _my_ bowl! _I lost_; I _have_ to drink it on my own, it's in the rules! You're not making any _sense_!"

"_You're_ not making sense. Who is ever proud of losing!?" He snapped back.

"Well… when there's alcohol involved…" I tried to explain and grinned momentarily.

"Rgh, Sakura, stop being greedy."

"Mn! Sakura-chan! You should share!" Naruto appeared behind the couch. I turned my face again and _again_ my cheek slapped against Sasuke's skin. Naruto was grinning, looking down at us, the bowl in his left hand. I rolled my eyes.

"_Fine_."

"_Yes_!" Naruto fist-pumped with his free hand.

Instantly I was released. It was as if someone just unlocked a vice. All pressure gone, just like that.

I sat back on my heels and then crawled off the couch to the floor, careful to keep my dress from riding up my thighs. Sasuke sluggishly sat up and also climbed to his feet, steadying himself on the back of the couch.

"Oh, by the way, look what I found!" Grinning, Naruto displayed a standard-looking toilet plunger in his right hand.

Sasuke sounded just as confused as I must have looked.

"What is _that_ for, dobe?" He asked.

I didn't think it was possible, but Naruto's grin widened.

"Heh… well it's f—

"Oi! Oppai-chan! There you are!" Suigetsu hollered happily. Has he… made _friends_ with Ino and Sai, somehow? I turned and saw the coming down the stairs, holding hands. Ino looked put-together _but_, one of her mesh elbow-things was slightly rumpled and displaced on her arm.

Well, shit. How long have I been arguing with Sasuke for? Did we really arue enough for them to squeeze in a quickie? Sai looked dazed behind her. And his hair was out of sorts… must've been some great sex.

"Oi, _oi_!" Naruto flashed his chakra several times and all eyes were on him. Juugo went over to the countertop and turned the music down, a yakitori stick in his mouth and Kakashi-sensei took a drink from a beer bottle; Keisaki's Iwa Brew, if I'm correct.

"Listen up! We're going to stick this thing to the ceiling. Every time it falls we all take a shot! The one who stuck it to the ceiling has to take two!" Naruto announced.

"WOOOOOOO!" Almost everyone cheered.

"Sakura-chan, you put it up." He declared.

Naruto extended the plunger to me.

"Why me?" I asked with a frown.

Naruto grinned, a deep blush on his tanned cheeks. He laughed nervously, sloshing the drink in the fishbowl around.

"Well…I don't think I can walk up the wall… and you've always been really good at chakra control…"

"I think Kakashi should be the one to suction it to the ceiling." Sasuke suggested. Brilliant. If we can rig that thing to fall as many times as we want, maybe we can get him drunk enough to take his mask off; it'd be perfect!

Naruto's eyes widened. They looked like miniature azure skies trapped in his skull. He caught on to the plan and grinned like a maniac.

"_Yeah_!"

And just like that, the conspiratorial smirk was off of his face, replaced with an innocent, twinkle-eyed smile. He shoved the fishbowl into Sasuke's hands and more of the drink spilled on his chest as Naruto dashed to the kitchen where Kakashi-sensei was reaching for a chunk of barbequed steak.

Gross, we're both going to be so sticky. My boobs were already starting to stick from the booze that splashed onto me earlier and I smelled like alcohol.

We watched Naruto talk for a minute and saw Kakashi-sensei shake his head. I felt him trying to mold chakra to prove his own inebriation and…it just wasn't happening. I looked over at Sasuke. I think he felt me looking at him because he turned to me. He didn't really have an expression on his face but I saw the curiosity in the darkness of his eyes.

"I think you should put it on the ceiling. Kaka-sensei's obviously having some trouble." I suggested. Sasuke was able to activate his sharingan at Hofuku and we were _smacked_ back then. I didn't doubt he'd be able to chakra-walk. Sasuke frowned.

"I can try." Then he snorted. "If I can't, someone will have to get a chair."

I burst into laughter. There were _eight_ eligible-to-drink shinobi in one room and none of us had the ability to stick a stupid plunger to the ceiling. The situation was starting to turn into something you'd hear in a corny joke.

So of course, I couldn't resist.

"Hey Sasuke…how many shinobi does it take to stick a plunger to the ceiling?"

He snickered.

"Eight, apparently."

Naruto came running over. He waved the plunger around in front of Sasuke's face and Sasuke protectively turned his body to the right to prevent the bowl from getting hit. It was obvious that even with his Uzumaki sturdiness, Naruto was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. It took him a while, but he— and Karin, now that I just noticed her red cheeks— are definitely getting drunk.

"Teme, you _have_ to do it." Then, Naruto lowered his voice to a whisper so quiet I had to read his lips to figure out what he was saying. "Kakashi-sensei is _reaaaaaaalllllyyyy_ drunk. I think a little longer and we can get him to take his mask off. I have an idea so just roll with it!"

We nodded affirmatively. Game on, Kakashi-sensei!

Sasuke took the plunger and inhaled deeply. He turned and put the fishbowl back down on the gross, messy, card-and-booze-covered glass table, losing his balance a little. I wasn't surprised that he was getting noticeably drunk. We have been drinking for more than an hour and a half straight and had gone through about three to five bottles of liquor each. He walked up the stair case to the second floor and stopped halfway up where it began to disappear behind the living room wall. He touched the wall and tested his ability to stick to it with his chakra. Naruto and I moved closer to him, just in case he fell. My eyes fell to the swords Suigetsu left resting against the bookcase directly below where Sasuke wanted to climb.

"Sasuke, wait!" I shouted just before he stuck his hand to the wall. His eyes snapped to me, even if they took a second to actually _focus_ on me.

"Um… maybe you should do that somewhere else…" I pointed to the swords. Naruto gasped next to me.

"Yeah, teme, Sakura-chan's right. You could get impaled on Sushi-getsu's swords."

Sasuke looked to the bookcase, to the swords, to the wall, then back to us. He shrugged.

"It's fine." He practically waved us off.

I chewed on the bottom of my lip. It's _not_ fine. If he gets hurt it'll be hard for me to purge my body of the toxins in it and administer emergency care fast enough. If he bleeds out…

Worry. I was worried. Like, unnecessarily. Was the alcohol making me overreact? What's wrong with me? I _shouldn't_ feel this way. What am I, twelve? Sasuke's a big boy, he can handle himself. If he slips and gets hurt it's his own damn fault.

**Yeah, that's what you say now…**

I grit my teeth.

Shut _up_. I thought you went away!

**Only because you needed the quiet to work. **

The nagging worry didn't go away. It spoke for itself and for the first time in a long time, I was _terrified_. Not of Sasuke getting hurt, but of my own feelings and thoughts. Did Orochimaru maybe do something to me? I'd take an assassination assignment any day over the realization that maybe there _is_ something there for Sasuke that _just won't go away_. Maybe we _can't_ be friends. Maybe I _can't _see him as just another guy…

That kiss… did that little kiss mean anything? My heart thudded in my chest as every alarm bell in my mind chimed ceaselessly.

Oh no…

No no no….

No way. I _can't_ do this to myself. Nope. _Nope_. There is no way that I'll let myse—

"Sakura-chan?"

Naruto's voice snapped me out of it. I shook my head and focused on his curious, blue eyes. He looked… analytical.

"Huh?"

"You totally spaced out. You don't look happy, either. Are you okay?"

Naruto put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"What? Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." I gave a fake smile and stuck my tongue out. "Are we getting that plunger up on the ceiling or not?" I smashed a fist into my palm to emphasize my "okay-ness". It didn't convince me, but I hoped it was enough to convince Naruto, or at least give him the hint that I didn't want to talk about it. He whirled around and grinned at Sasuke.

"Yosh! Do it, teme!" Naruto fist-pumped, excited as ever.

Nodding, and completely determined, Sasuke began to spider-monkey his way up the wall. When he got to the edge where the wall turned into the ceiling, he carefully placed both feet on the ceiling and stood to his full height. He wobbled a little and Naruto moved closer beneath him. I didn't realize that I had reacted in the same manner until I noticed that I had to crane my neck completely to see Sasuke.

"You all right?" Naruto called.

"Yeah." Sasuke agreed as he made his way to a spot on the ceiling that didn't have any clutter on the floor beneath it. He suctioned the plunger to the ceiling with an audible squish of air and cut the flow of chakra to his feet. He somersaulted and landed gracefully, almost in a cat-like manner… if you didn't count how he fell back on his ass a second after. Naruto and I snickered as we split up. He went to go help Sasuke and I went to retrieve the fishbowl. We all made eye contact and silently agreed to go into the kitchen as Naruto nodded towards Kakashi, drinking a beer with a half-finished steak on his red paper plate.

"Oi, Kaka-sensei, come help us drink down the fishbowl!"

For a second, Kakashi-sensei just looked at us and blinked. I worried for that second that he might have caught on _already_. But then he shrugged, placed his beer down on the counter and ambled over with his half-finished steak.

"Ok, how do we do this? Do we take turns?" I asked.

"I don't know, should we go in a circle?" Naruto shrugged, but even he looked bored with the idea.

"I think Sasuke has an idea." Sensei pointed out and we all turned our heads to our favorite and only Uchiha.

He was smirking, playfully and dear _kami-sama_ did I want to see that look on his face_ in bed_. If I didn't know any better I would say that he never got the chance to have sex with anyone because they all would've died of heart attacks after seeing a look like that.

"Naruto, can you make a clone?" He asked.

Naruto's UV-smile dimmed into a frown.

"No." He moped and his shoulders sagged. Sasuke's face fell.

"Fine, we'll go in a circle, then." He sighed.

"Right." Kakashi-sensei agreed.

"Sakura, you start." Sasuke handed me the bowl as he, Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei scooted closer to me. I smirked. Bottom's up!

And I drank the delicious concoction. It tasted bittersweet and fizzy and I loved every second of it because it would be what pushed me to that place that made me forget everything stressful.

-X-

God, I didn't realize how boring Sakura is to write.

I'm sorry I just _had_ to cut it there because I really need to write the next part in Sasuke's POV.

Sorry for the long wait and so sorry for the short update.

Hope you guys enjoy!


	37. I'm Never Drinking Again

KISEKI

|37|

I'M BAAAAAAAAAACK! Special thanks to Crystal! Your reviews made me want to continue this fic.. I forgot how much fun it was to write this and hearing you enjoy it gave me the willpower to continue. So everyone give a round of applause for Crystal! Hope you guys are ready for this one. I'm going to alternate POV's in this chapter because a lot of you requested it.

Author Update: So for anyone who cares, I'm going to graduate this May and get my associates degree. Yaaaay! It's already been two years! If I'm lucky I'll graduate with high honors and a hefty or maybe full scholarship! I've been hard at work at school, my job and writing my original work so it's been hard to attend to this fic, which I had total writer's block on. So sorry again for being away for so long! Anyway! ENJOYYY!

Sakura's forehead rolled onto my sticky shoulder and the rosette groaned, hiding her face from the living room light above us. We were all sitting on the couch; Kakashi was falling into the pages of his book, his nose hitting the center of it each time he rocked forward. He was doing a shit job at pretending to read it. Naruto was already fast asleep. .. or so I thought until the thump of the plunger hitting the kitchen floor caught his attention. Naruto's head rolled forward in a sluggish manner and he belched.

"S~Shhhotsssssssss!" He yelled tiredly with less than half the energy he usually had. I punched his thigh as gently as possible, to not jostle Sakura next to me.

"ow~fffuck. Wha ss tha fer?...dick."

"Fer burping like a'pig." I replied and held back my own burp.

"You got a pole up yourr~ asss… duckie." He insulted. I snorted at "duckie". He started to call me that an hour ago when he realized my hair—my "duck's ass"—was growing out. He snorted and we laughed until I yawned.

"You guys~re…stupid." Sakura groaned into the skin of my shoulder. I shuddered pleasantly, as always when I felt the soft wind of her breath on my body. I felt my face and ears heat up at the thought of her so close but what do I care? I was so drunk at this point a band of rogues could attack us and I wouldn't care. I was with my team. I had Sakura and Naruto next to me. Everything was great no matter how hammered we were.

I feel so sappy I might just throw up. .. that's probably just the alcohol making me nauseous, though. Naruto turned his head as far to the side as he could and gave the rest of the first floor an investigative glance, confused as to why no one answered his call for shots.

"Eh, damn it…" I looked and saw that Ino and Karin were passed out on each other, splayed out on the ugly carpet, spilled bottles of beer all around them. Suigetsu and Sai were sitting at a free spot on the table across from each other, holding hands; it looked like they passed out trying to arm wrestle each other. Juugo had pulled out a book and was calmly reading at the small kitchen table sipping on a mug of tea, ignoring the filth and disgust around him.

Naruto, with his inhuman stamina outlasted us all … Except for Sakura… who rose from my shoulder like the living dead to reach for a half-empty bottle of 180-proof clear alcohol on the glass table in front of us.

"'S no shot glasses but thassok, right?" Sakura grabbed the bottle and began to lean back to take a swig, but I decided that enough was enough and sluggishly snatched the bottle out of her weak grip.

"'EY!" She growled but I kept it out if her reach as she swung her arm to get it back.

"Kakashi sh'take the first drink." I slurred to cover my ass. Really, I didn't want her to drink anymore, but she didn't have to know that.

The fucking plunger fell from the ceiling so many times I lost count of how many double shots I took. I'm convinced everyone kept sticking it to the ceiling in a shitty manner to get me drunk…er. I passed the bottle to Naruto and he passed it to Kakashi.

"Oh makes~sense…" Sakura groaned. "Hey Sashuke…"

"Mn?" I love the way she says my name… even if she's slurring it.

Sakura chuckled. "Th'roomsss~moving…"

I snorted.

"L'ft t'right?" The room was _definitely _moving left to right.

"Ummm…. Diagonal? ?" She replied.

"Shit...you'r~really dr'nk."

She cracked up, and grabbed my arm, laughing into my shoulder.

"'Know what… I _am_…ahh…ahahah!"

Her laughing made me laugh and pretty soon Naruto joined us. Kakashi looked at Naruto and he started laughing and before we knew it Ino was screaming at us to shut up.

We were quiet for a while after that and I sluggishly realized that someone turned the music off, probably Juugo since he was the only one sober enough to care to do so. Yawning, I wiggled my arm out of Sakura's grip, holding her shoulder so she wouldn't fall forward. She was asleep and I didn't want to wake her.

I placed my arm around her shoulders, tucked her into my chest, placed my head against Naruto's shoulder—not like he'd care, his head was tilted back and his mouth was wide open, dead to the world—and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up seemingly in the middle of the night from a nightmare, only to fall back asleep and straight into another nightmare. I dreamt that I was twelve again… it was awful.

I was nauseous in the dream because Orochimaru was conditioning me against poisons, like her once did. It turns out I was horrifically nauseous in real life and as soon as my eyes opened for the third time, I tried to position Sakura away from me as quickly as possible.

I was going to throw up… there's no denying it.

I threw myself at the bathroom door, knowing the nastiness was about to leave my bowls through my mouth…it was _so _close to coming up. I found that the bathroom door was locked.

If I wasn't still drunk I would've ripped the door off of its hinges but since the room was still spinning I stumbled to the staircase and tried not to trip on my way up the steps. I found the bathroom door and violently pulled it open in my haste, foregoing turning on the light; the hallway light was bright enough for me. I flipped up the toilet seat so fast it smacked the septic tank and fell back down again, growled, lifted the seat again and painfully dropped to my knees, just in time for my body to finally lose control and heave.

Every muscle in my torso spasmed in unison. I've never been this audible… or acidic while vomiting. Everything I ate, drank and then some burned me as it made its way up my unfortunate esophagus and into the toilet with a disgusting, chunky splash that made me vomit again out of pure disgust. I coughed, spat and flushed, taking deep breaths because the sickness wasn't over yet. I moaned and projectile vomited again.

"Sasuk—

I interrupted Sakura with another bought of sickness. When did she get here? I was so busy throwing up that I hadn't noticed her arrival.

"Oh Kami-sama… you gave yourself alcohol poisoning you baka Uchiha …"

Her chastisement was a distant sound. The sounds of the chunks of food and the smell of the flat beer intermingling with the scent of stomach acid was taking complete command of my attention and I flinched when she put her hand on my shoulder. I blinked the automatic tears in my eyes away.

This fuckin' sucks.

"Oh, no…"

That was the worst thing she could have said. I was drunk sick and now panicked because if Sakura was worried, then I should be too.

"Whhh~t?" I slurred and spit more bile out.

"This is bad, Sasuke, you're burning up!"

"Huh?" When did her hand move to my forehead? I indulged in the coolness of her skin before my intestines rumbled.

"… I don't feel good…"

Kami-sama… fuck… don't shit yourself in front of her, Sasuke…

Fuck.

Sakura placed her hand on my shoulder as if she knew what was coming next…

Sure enough, I heaved again; all the muscles in my body tensed and I threw up again, reaching up and weakly flushing the toilet, holding back the awfulness that wanted to shoot out of my ass.

My fingers slipped off the little porcelain handle and my wrist hit the seat before it hit the floor. I pressed my forehead to the toilet and it felt like ice against my skin. Everything was so cold, that the frigidness seemed to reach my skin beneath my pants. Sakura was right; I was burning up. I coughed out some more bile and huffed as she rubbed my back.

"Just relax." She soothed.

She sounded completely sober. I have no idea how. Suddenly, I felt her chakra glide over my skin and soothe my stomach. Instantly, the chills and nausea went away.

I felt the warmth of her front against my back. She held her right hand against my right side and placed her left hand on my left side. Her legs were straddling mine and I felt comfortable and secure even though I was the man in our unit. I would have been more put together if I wasn't so _fucking _wasted.

"This will only hurt a bit, okay? "

"No, not o—aaaaaaargg!"

Before I could protest, she cut my side open! What the _fuck_! Before I could push her away—because obviously she went crazy— her voice was in my ear, soothing my panic.

"Shhhh…. I'm just taking the alcohol out, look."

Truth be fucking told, I looked over and there was this big ball of _shit_ just floating next to us above the center of her palm. It was gooey and all sorts of inside-the-body colors. I pulled my head away from the sight, grateful that the nausea subsided because seeing that would have made me throw up _again._

"Ew… disgusting. .." But my focus was returning. The room wasn't spinning anymore, and I felt buzzed instead of drunk. I was grateful because feeling fuzzy was a million times better than feeling dizzy and nauseous.

I am never drinking again. Ever.

"Just a little longer. You really did a number on yourself. No matter how strong you are you're still human, Sasuke. Whether you have the rinnegan or not, you can still get sick, y'know…" She murmured and she was right. That's pretty much my weakness isn't it? I _can _still get sick. I _can _still poison myself if I tried. It made me feel vulnerable, especially since she was saving me at the moment. I needed her, obviously. Naruto and I _both_ needed her. No matter how godly our abilities are, we _are_ human and we _are _susceptible to very human things.

True to her word, a minute later my skin was sealed up and I felt decent enough to get my head off of the toilet. The taste of my mouth suddenly became very apparent to me, now that my nausea was gone.

"I need my toothbrush." My mouth made me feel insecure. You just don't talk to the woman you love while you have vomit-breath… It's the furthest most opposite thing from "attractive."

Of course, Sakura laughed… _at _me.

"Yeah, you do." She rubbed my back twice, as if to apologize for jeering at me and climbed to her feet. "I'll get it for you. For now just get up and run the sink."

She patted my shoulder and I lifted my arm to grasp her small hand in my large one and marveled at her strength as she pulled me up. I steadied myself with a hand on the sink and she let go.

I genuinely missed her warmth.

"I'll be right back." She spoke in a whisper; after all, everyone was sleeping. I nodded to respond, but she had already disappeared, silent as a wraith.

I ran the water as told, gathered some in my palm, rinsed my mouth out, gathered more, and then washed my face. By then Sakura was back, nudging my shoulder with the tip of my toothpaste tube. I took it from her, along with my toothbrush and turned to thank her.

When our eyes met I couldn't help but glance at her rumpled red dress, mussed hair and wrinkled jacket. I snickered and immediately she glared.

"_What._" She demanded. I shook my head, overgrown bangs irritating my face and neck.

"We look like shit." I replied. She snorted.

"The living room's worse." She informed and I groaned as I squeezed toothpaste onto my grey toothbrush.

"If never should have cleaned it; it was a waste of time." I felt like Tsunade sent the alcohol over to spite me a bit; make my mission harder than it should be.

She chuckled as I gloriously began to scrub my teeth. The minty paste was heavenly and I was beginning to feel less like a dog and more like a human.

"Even so, you made my birthday enjoyable, Sasuke. Thank you so much… for the gift and everything." She murmured. I watched my eyes widen in the mirror as I looked at her reflection behind me, smiling softly.

Was…she still drunk?

A warm feeling spread across my chest and I recognized it as gratefulness and hope, but most importantly, love. I wanted to hold her and I would if I wasn't sticky and didn't smell like vomit and booze. Instead, I shook my head, finished brushing, spat the foam out of my mouth and rinsed. I turned the cold water knob, stopped the faucet from running, rubbed the remaining droplets of water off of my mouth with the back of my hand and turned around to face her. She was patiently waiting, knowing instinctively that I was going to respond. The blood rushed to my face and I was grateful for the hallway light being dim enough to blur things in the bathroom, like my definitely-flushed cheeks.

"It's your birthday; you don't have to thank me." I finally responded to her.

She smirked, something I found very sexy on her despite her rumpled clothes. In fact, if I were to be honest I'd say the rumpled clothes made her look even hotter with that smirk. Is that what she would look like after sex?

"But I _want _to." She countered and I shrugged, smirking back.

"That's your prerogative, then. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm just pissed we didn't get Kakashi's mask off." I frowned. Sakura's green eyes widened, practically glowing in the dim light.

"He's still out cold. We can still get him!" She conspired devilishly.

"Yeah, but Naruto will miss out. If we wake that dobe, he'll wake up the dead in return; you know how he is."

We looked at each other for just a moment before we both realized with wide eyes…

"Tsukuyomi…" We whispered in unison. I could show Naruto in Tsukuyomi what Sakura and I uncover— _if _we do uncover anything—in real life. It's not the same, he'll be pissed, but it'll do.

She mirrored my smirk.

"Let's go…" She deadpanned, so determined. We quieted our steps like true anbu and crept down the stairs, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. Someone— again, probably Juugo— turned off the living room light, but clicked on the table lamp next to Orochimaru's arm chair, which gave us more darkness to conceal ourselves with, not that it would help much if Kakashi was awake; it was just a habit— the more cover you have, the better.

We stopped at the bottom of the stairs, Sakura sticking close to my back. I lifted my hand and signed that Kakashi looked asleep and to be extra quiet, and we proceeded.

We avoided every empty bottle of liquor, plate and decoration that was on the floor as we moved. Slowly, stealthily and expertly, we ghosted towards Kakashi's form on the couch. Neither of us dared to even breathe near him. I carefully reached over with a curled index finger, which I hooked under the cloth covering his warm face. Kakashi slept on, unaware of my intrusion. Slowly, and carefully I began to pull it down. I felt Sakura's hand tighten around the bicep of my other arm in tension. I managed to get the damn thing over his nose, when suddenly his hand shot out and death-gripped my wrist, immediately kicking my instinct to attack on. I shot out my other hand, Sakura still attached to the arm and spread my fingers to make another attempt at the mask.

What the _fuck _was under there that was so worth defending!? Was it a mole? A _hairy _mole? A scar? Freckles? _What, damn it!_

Pain bloomed across the thumb of my hand as I realized Kakashi had bit down on it _through _his mask.

Motherfucker.

"Aghck!"

"No!" Sakura shrieked behind me. "You were supposed to be out cold, sensei!"

Kakashi spat out my hand and chuckled, crinkling both of his eyes way too innocently as he chastised Sakura and I.

"That's what you get for snooping in places you don't belong, Sasuke; and _Sakura_, did you put him up to this?"

Funny how he was blaming her and not me; it's been a while since I was claimed innocent by anyone but Naruto.

"H-hey now, sensei I just wanted to see your face! It's my birthday anyway, can't you just show me!?" She hissed, sounding embarrassed.

"I already got you a gift, Sakura. Besides, it's three a.m.; your birthday is over."

"_What, _no fair!" She pouted.

"You guys reek of alcohol, by the way." He explained, turning his head away from me as I nursed my abused thumb… bastard.

"Is that what tipped you off?" I asked and he smiled in response.

"You bet." He replied.

_Fuck_. We should've showered first. I groaned and smacked my forehead.

"Damn it." Sakura growled. Kakashi chuckled as we stepped away from him. Sakura crossed her arms and glared at him as he attempted to make her feel better.

"Maybe next year, hmm?" He suggested.

"No, I give up." Sakura threw up her hands and grasped my wrist.

"You can keep your stupid mask on your face; I'm going to go to sleep; come on, Sasuke."

And she dragged me away but not before I saw the satisfied smirk on Kakashi's face as he waved at me.

"Sweet dreams…" He called after us in a mischievous tone. Sakura didn't respond. She only gripped my wrist tighter, and pulled on me harder. Halfway up the stairs she let me go.

"Can you even believe him?"

She sounded so mad.

"Actually yeah, I can. He's slick and we should've showered before we approached him." I replied.

"He would've been awake by the time we finished!" She countered.

"Then maybe it just wasn't meant to happen tonight." I offered. She grumbled, but eventually sighed in resignation.

"Yeah, I guess you're right… whatever, I'm exhausted… and sticky. Do you want the shower first?" She asked me.

"Sure, thanks."

"Just knock on my door when you're done, alright?"

I nodded, she flashed a smile and we separated to go to our rooms. I grabbed all my bath items, and jumped into the hot water. I fuckin nearly fell asleep but caught myself just as my forehead started to slide down the tile in front of me. Eventually, I dried off, threw my pajama pants on, grabbed all my stuff and padded over to Sakura's door. I knocked a few times, but she didn't reply.

"Sakura?"

…

No response.

A bit of worry flashed through my mind. Why the hell does she have to do this kind of shit to me?

I knocked again. Barging in will be the last resort.

"Sakura, if you don't open the door I'm going to come in." …And you better not test me, because you know I will…

No response. Impatiently, I turned the knob; thankfully her door wasn't locked. Slowly I opened it and the sound of steady breathing reassured me that everything was okay. When I opened the door the rest of the way, I spotted Sakura curled into a ball, sleeping on her bed. She was out cold, which was strange, since she seemed awake enough last time I saw her.

I activated my sharingan, just incase, only to find nothing amiss, aside from Sakura's chakra. I realized she must have used up a lot of it to purge the alcohol from her body, and then used the rest of it to help me. I sighed and placed my stuff on her bare desk top, then walked over to her. I sat next to her, my back to her front and she shuffled closer to me. Her weight against my lower back was a small reminder of the nights we had spent together.

"I'm addicted to you and I don't know how to tell you…" I whispered, knowing that she wouldn't hear m—

"Mgrhfnmm…"

I almost had a heart attack. What kind of awkward, too-soon kind of a confession would that have turned into if she had heard that? I turned around to double check if she was still asleep and found that thank _kami-sama _she was. I breathed a sigh of relief as I stood up and ripped the covers out from beneath her. I placed them over her and even tucked her in. I looked at her for a moment and debated on whether or not I should just climb in next to her.

It would be inappropriate and would raise a lot of questions tomorrow morning…

…

And that's exactly why I settled in next to her with a smirk on my face…

**SAKURA **

The next morning felt awfully familiar… I was warm, comfortable, mildly hung-over, and wrapped up in someone's arms.

_Fuck. _

It was Sasuke's familiar embrace. I lifted the covers, terrified that we might've had sex, before I woke up the rest of the way and remembered that we didn't. I was clothed, but my dress rode up. I could feel his wood against my ass and I'd be a liar and a half if I said it didn't turn me on a little. Looking out the window, it was grey and dingy outside like usual. I couldn't tell the time because of the weather, except that it was definitely day-time, and defaulted to looking at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand instead…

Ten o'clock in the morning.

I rightfully should've been awake and working by now, but honestly, fuck that. Sleep is the priority right now and most importantly, I missed sleeping with Sasuke. I placed my hand over his and in response he curled his arm around my waist tighter, like I knew he would. Smiling, I fell back asleep.

Today can wait.

-X-

It was about noon when I finally woke up, groggy and realizing exactly how terrible I smelled and how sticky I was.

"Ugh..._fuck_." I grumbled.

"Mn, you need a shower." Sasuke unexpectedly groaned behind me. I almost jumped, if only because I wasn't expecting him to be awake.

"I _know_ that." I grumped in response and he chuckled that _stupid_ unfairly-attractive chuckle. I refused to let him see my blush and attempted to sit up.

He wouldn't budge.

"Sasuke, I need to get up."

"And I need to sleep five more minutes."

Is he even real right now?

"Are we _really_ going to do this right now?"

"Depends, do you feel like arguing?"

"_No_. I feel like showering, actually."

With that, again, I attempted to move out of his hold, but failed.

"Sasuke," I yawned his name, and then recovered, "Just let go."

"Just _stay_." He growled back, bringing back memories of the first night I stayed with him. "And shut the curtain. My entire skull is in pain." He rebutted, and I realized that no, I didn't completely purge his body of poison last night. There was no possible way, of course. Between taking care of him and myself neither of us got completely treated. I would have ran myself dry, which I think I did anyway.

"You have a migraine?" I asked, not surprised.

"It feels like one."

"Okay hang on. Just give me some wiggle room."

"Oh?" He mused, "You won't run?" He alluded to the night I ran away from this mission, Konoha, and everything I ever knew. Why is he picking so many fights today? Is he really that cranky?

"Hey! What's _that_ supposed to mean? Is this your way of releasing your irritation, because I'm not dealing with your shit, Uchiha. Do you want your headache to go away or not?" I snapped.

He was silent for a moment, but then his grip relaxed.

"Hmph." _That's what I thought. _I rolled over and lifted my arms up to place my palms at his temples. I would've started healing him if we hadn't caught each other's eyes. He was smirking, again; that smug little smirk; like he knew something I didn't.

"_What_?" He didn't _seem_ like he had a headache. "Do you really have a migraine or are you trying to annoy me?" I accused.

"I have a migraine." He said factually.

"So why are you smirking like the cat that ate the mouse?" I asked.

And he did the worst thing _ever_…

**SASUKE **

I shrugged.

That's it. I just shrugged, because it was funny to see her baggy eyes narrow. Even exhausted, the light brown beneath her eyes accentuated her green irises. If there's one thing that will never change about Haruno Sakura, it's her eyes.

"You'll find out eventually." I mysteriously clued in.

And her entire demeanor changed. First, her eyes opened all the way and then some in shock, and then she snarled. I could almost _hear _her teeth grind as her eyes narrowed into thin, _dangerous_ slits.

"_Are you serious?_" She hissed.

Who was like a cat again?

"Yes." I replied.

I was most definitely serious.

…I'll tell her my feelings after this mission.

But I can't rock the boat just yet; feelings and emotional drama, like my confession will definitely be, can't happen on a mission. It could derail her from her work, cost us time and other things we _don't _need happening on this mission. There are purple dying, and there will be war. There was just too much at stake right now.

Infuriated— a reaction I'll never get bored of seeing from her— she slapped her hands on both my shoulders, growled her frustration, and shook me as much as could with the little room she had to do so. Of course, it was a total failure, but I exaggeratedly flailed back and forth anyway, despite the pounding in my head, just to give her satisfaction.

"Uuuuugh! You're so—

"_Annoying?" _I finished for her, and like a magic password the shaking stopped. In fact, she started to laugh, slowly at first but then wholeheartedly. I snickered and joined her in her laughter. I had to stop myself from rubbing her back; I wanted to touch her, _hug_ her. I don't know what it was, but something last night— maybe it was the look of realization and absolute horror on her face when she looked at me climbing the ceiling— made me think that it was high time I just tell her my thoughts. She was afraid of me for some reason. _Afraid_. But that reason had nothing to do with any awful things I've done to her in the past.

I don't want her to be afraid when she looks at me. I want her to know that I love her, regardless of whether or not she loves me back.

"Yeah, you're _really_ _annoying_. Why can't I know just yet? Is it a prank? Am I going to be pissed when I find out?" She asked, and her face became dangerous, but in a playful way.

"Well, that _does_ sound like a good idea, but no, just…" I gave her a serious look; my _most _serious look. "…trust me."

She looked surprised, but got the point. With a thoughtful expression, she lifted her palms and I closed my eyes as her chakra eased the pain away.

She _trusted _me.

"Arigato." I murmured as all the tension in my shoulders disappeared.

I think I felt her smile.

-x-

During the next few weeks, I busied myself routinely bringing Sakura food, making sure she wasn't being too hard on herself and taking care of Orochimaru.

Things were coming down to the wire. If Sakura doesn't hurry, Orochimaru is going to need diapers and I _don't _want to deal with that. _Really_.

One rainy, stormy day, when I was bringing her food, she was furiously drawing something on a paper. I had seen her drawing something for a few days now, but today, as I set the tray down there I saw _so much_ drawn on the paper that I was _perplexed_. It looked like another language. Everything was scribbles and ink, literally painted on the paper with a small, thin brush that she had requested a week ago.

I took a breath to speak, but she raised her finger, silencing me. Quietly, I placed the tray on the metal tabletop, leaned on something sturdy, and watched her work. Her writing and drawing grew faster and more intense until _finally_ she slammed the brush onto the table with a wide grin on her face.

"_It's done_!" She cheered and I slowly began to clap. I finally had her attention and she turned her head to grin at me, and my breath caught.

She looked _so_ happy. I hadn't seen her smile and cheer like that since we were kids. She stood up, and to my surprise, she ran over and threw her arms around me. My heart didn't know whether it wanted to speed up or stop completely in its tracks. I didn't pull away from her like I used to when we were kids. I didn't try to push her off, or tell her to get off of me. This time, I raised my arms to hug her, but by the time I recovered frpm the surprise to do that, she was already gone, gazing happily at her work.

"I created a seal." She said with energy and enthusiasm I only ever saw come from Naruto. "I got the idea from Naruto and Karin." She continued. "I'm going to weave it into Orochimaru's DNA. He won't be able to remove it himself. It'll give me power over his life; I can end him," She snapped her fingers, "just like that if I want to. If I hear _one peep_ about him doing something bad… _boom_." She threw up her hands and spread her fingers, tired eyes widening to accentuate her meaning. "I mean… he won't _explode-explode_, but deep inside… my chakra will cause a chain reaction in his DNA, and thus in his body. I'll literally shut him down, piece by piece." She finished with a grim expression. My mouth hung open. This time, it was her that lifted it shut via my chin with her finger, smirking victoriously.

"Hah! How's _that_ for a curse mark, huh?"

And she flashed me a piece sign, a cool smirk on her face. I smirked back.

"I'll have to forever wear the seal, too, but it's a small price to pay for the security of knowing he's in check."

"What if he's far away? You can't possibly monitor _everything_ he does…" I murmured. I didn't want to burst her bubble, but it was something that had to be thought through. Her smirk only widened.

"Through the seal I'll be able to monitor his chakra as if it were my own. I'll be able to tell if he's doing something to someone. Trust me. If I don't _fucking_ like it, he's dead." She assured.

I was thoroughly impressed, and honestly, I felt like she avenged me a little. The curse mark _I _was afflicted with was _awful_. Just knowing that Orochimaru would have to live with the paranoia of being _disassembled_ at someone else's whim made me feel better about the whole thing.

"Alright, you eat and take a day off. We'll get him down here tomorrow morning—

"Hell _no_. I'm not waiting another day in this rat's nest. I'm going to eat. You bring him down here. We're taking care of this and I'm going the hell home." She snipped back. I blinked at her, but I couldn't argue. She was at full capacity— it was only twelve and she hadn't used her chakra; there was no reason for her to be empty— she was capable of proceeding at the moment. I don't blame her for hating being here, either. There was no place like home.

"Besides, I don't want to risk _anything _happening to my work. I know he's bedridden but I still don't trust him. I want to get this done _immediately, _while this stuff is still in front of me."

I got her point. If she left the work alone, it could be tampered with. She _could_ just seal it away, but better safe than sorry, right?

"Alright. Lunch first, though." And I waved a hand at the seat next to the one I took.

"Great. So, did you read anything interesting today?" She switched topic ad she walked over, sat down next to me and slid her tray closer to herself.

Yeah, "How to Confess to the Woman You Love". That's a joke; I'm not Sai.

"'Fire and Steel'". I replied. "It's boring."

She chuckled.

"Well you won't find the surgery boring, I promise."

I didn't doubt her.

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. But I wanted to give you guys something to munch on before I get into the action.

As always, leave reviews! Crystal has officially proven that they pull me out of the depths of writers block so they're very helpful!

See ya later Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This is fan made and blah blah blah I don't feel like it anymore.


End file.
